Hello everyone,
Sitting here watching perfmeter report network collisions on the machine my NetApp is connected to is making me once again interested in exploring the possibility of setting up a null ethernet, full duplex 100 Mbps ethernet, or private switched ethernet segment connection. If anyone has done this I would appreciate someone setting me off in the right direction. Hardware and software (i.e. informing in.routed to use a particular interface) advice sought. net.karma offered.
Regards,
David K. Drum david@more.net
Hi David,
We have done both of the items you mention. In one case, an F520 was attached to a Sun Ultra Enterprise solely with a 100baseT crossover cable. The Sun, of course, needed an additional interface for the public network, but that is fairly trivial to configure on Solaris. To handle the mounting properly, you just need to specify the route to that ip address properly in your routing table, and specify the private ip address in the vfstab for the mount. Naturally, the Ultra had to be the admin host for this particular NetApp since no other machines could talk to it. =)
On the other side of the spectrum, I have a private 100Mbps switched ethernet segment that is used solely for backup purposes. Similar to the above, IPs were assigned that are not part of the public routed networks, and the filers were mounted on the private interfaces. This works very well as the heavy traffic of backups on several NetApps avoids entirely the public network entirely.
If you are using Solaris and need any help on configuration details, let me know what hardware you are using. The setup is fairly trivial given crimping supplies (and a hub if you want more than one machine to mount the NetApp.) and extra ethernet interfaces for the involved machines.
--PLB
Hello everyone,
Sitting here watching perfmeter report network collisions on the machine my NetApp is connected to is making me once again interested in exploring the possibility of setting up a null ethernet, full duplex 100 Mbps ethernet, or private switched ethernet segment connection. If anyone has done this I would appreciate someone setting me off in the right direction. Hardware and software (i.e. informing in.routed to use a particular interface) advice sought. net.karma offered.
Regards,
David K. Drum david@more.net -- It's hard to be bored when you're as stupid as a line. [1] Reality has a tendency to be so uncomfortably real. [2] You can only measure the size of your head from the inside. [3] When you proceed deliberately, mistakes don't cascade, they instruct. [4] [1] Vernor Vinge [2] Neil Peart [3] Larry Wall [4] Stewart Brand
Peter L. Buschman penned:
Naturally, the Ultra had to be the admin host for this particular NetApp since no other machines could talk to it. =)
I guess this solution would not work for us, because we do need more than just the admin host to speak to the NetApp.
On the other side of the spectrum, I have a private 100Mbps switched ethernet segment that is used solely for backup purposes. Similar to the above, IPs were assigned that are not part of the public routed networks, and the filers were mounted on the private interfaces. This works very well as the heavy traffic of backups on several NetApps avoids entirely the public network entirely.
Would I need an additional ethernet interface for both the NetApp and my Sun? Maybe this is answered in your final sentence below ("machine" is so vague these days). I need the NetApp to still be able to communicate with other systems. The desired outcome is for both the Sun and the NetApp to be able to reach the world (obvious in the case of the Sun) but to talk to each other privately. Or at least for incoming traffic to the Sun that is going to go right back out to the NetApp to go out a different interface. Or would I simply achieve this with a 100 Mbps switched ethernet (full duplex)?
If you are using Solaris and need any help on configuration details, let me know what hardware you are using. The setup is fairly trivial given crimping supplies (and a hub if you want more than one machine to mount the NetApp.) and extra ethernet interfaces for the involved machines.
I do have a Sun Ultra Enterprise 3000 running Solaris 2.5.1. Up to now we have not used in.routed, instead creating /etc/defaultrouter. We have a Kalpana etherswitch which is going to be replaced with a Cisco Catalyst in the near future.
Regards,
David K. Drum david@more.net
Peter L. Buschman penned:
Naturally, the Ultra had to be the admin host for this particular NetApp since no other machines could talk to it. =)
I guess this solution would not work for us, because we do need more than just the admin host to speak to the NetApp.
An connection using an RJ45<->RJ45 crossover cable can only involve two hosts _over_that_connection_. There is nothing preventing you from having a 2nd interface in the NetApp that talks to everything else over a hub, though.
Would I need an additional ethernet interface for both the NetApp and my Sun?
Yes. That is assumed when you talk about a private network. You are using separate hardware to keep additional traffic off of your "public" network.
Maybe this is answered in your final sentence below ("machine" is so vague these days). I need the NetApp to still be able to communicate with other systems. The desired outcome is for both the Sun and the NetApp to be able to reach the world (obvious in the case of the Sun) but to talk to each other privately. Or at least for incoming traffic to the Sun that is going to go right back out to the NetApp to go out a different interface. Or would I simply achieve this with a 100 Mbps switched ethernet (full duplex)?
If the Sun and the NetApp are the only systems you want on this private network, you can do that with a crossover cable. If you need to add more later, you can just replace the crossover with a switched hub. The basic scheme requires 2 interfaces on both the Sun and the NetApp. Interface 1 would connect the two machines via the crossover cable, while interface 2 would connect each to the rest of your company's network / hub / whatever. The key thing would be to set up private IPs on the Sun and the NetApp for the interfaces linked by crossover, and ensure that the Sun only mounts the NetApp on that private IP. Remember that this involves not just another interface, but another unique IP address (although one that only needs to be known to the NetApp and the Sun, so it can be any reserved ip that isn't routed on the internet.)
If you are using Solaris and need any help on configuration details, let me know what hardware you are using. The setup is fairly trivial given crimping supplies (and a hub if you want more than one machine to mount the NetApp.) and extra ethernet interfaces for the involved machines.
I do have a Sun Ultra Enterprise 3000 running Solaris 2.5.1. Up to now we have not used in.routed, instead creating /etc/defaultrouter. We have a Kalpana etherswitch which is going to be replaced with a Cisco Catalyst in the near future.
You do not need to use in.routed for this at all, although you will have to use the 'route' command to add a route for the NetApps private ip address to the routing table on the Sun. Without that, traffic for the NetApp will go to your router and your public network, and probably get lost from there.
--PLB
Regards,
David K. Drum david@more.net -- It's hard to be bored when you're as stupid as a line. [1] Reality has a tendency to be so uncomfortably real. [2] You can only measure the size of your head from the inside. [3] When you proceed deliberately, mistakes don't cascade, they instruct. [4] [1] Vernor Vinge [2] Neil Peart [3] Larry Wall [4] Stewart Brand
Peter L. Buschman penned:
The key thing would be to set up private IPs on the Sun and the NetApp for the interfaces linked by crossover, and ensure that the Sun only mounts the NetApp on that private IP. Remember that this involves not just another interface, but another unique IP address (although one that only needs to be known to the NetApp and the Sun, so it can be any reserved ip that isn't routed on the internet.)
Do you use IP addresses in the 10.0.0.0 subnet? Another group handles routing so some of these issues are unknown to me. I have heard that the 10.0.0.0 subnet is special, though I don't know why.
You do not need to use in.routed for this at all, although you will have to use the 'route' command to add a route for the NetApps private ip address to the routing table on the Sun.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Regards,
David K. Drum david@more.net
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David Drum -
Peter L. Buschman