5.5 HP StorageWorks X9720 Network Storage System Administrator Guide (AW549-96026, March 2011)

Link aggregation and virtual interfaces
When creating a user network interface, you can use link aggregation to combine physical resources
into a single VIF. VIFs allow you to provide many named paths within the larger physical resource,
each of which can be managed and routed independently, as shown in the following diagram. See
the network interface vendor documentation for any rules or restrictions required for link aggregation.
Identifying a user network interface for a file serving node
To identify a user network interface for specific file serving nodes, use the ibrix_nic command.
The interface name (IFNAME) can include only alphanumeric characters and underscores, such as
eth1.
<installdirectory>/bin/ibrix_nic -a -n IFNAME -h HOSTLIST
If you are identifying a VIF, add the VIF suffix (:nnnn) to the physical interface name. For example,
the following command identifies virtual interface eth1:1 to physical network interface eth1 on file
serving nodes s1.hp.com and s2.hp.com:
<installdirectory>/bin/ibrix_nic -a -n eth1:1 -h s1.hp.com,s2.hp.com
When you identify a user network interface for a file serving node, the management console queries
the node for its IP address, netmask, and MAC address and imports the values into the configuration
database. You can modify these values later if necessary.
If you identify a VIF, the management console does not automatically query the node. If the VIF will
be used only as a standby network interface in an automated failover setup, the management console
will query the node the first time a network is failed over to the VIF. Otherwise, you must enter the
VIF’s IP address and netmask manually in the configuration database (see “Setting network interface
options in the configuration database” on page 72). The management console does not require a
MAC address for a VIF.
If you created a user network interface for X9000 client traffic, you will need to prefer the network
for the X9000 clients that will use the network (see “Preferring network interfaces” on page 73).
Setting network interface options in the configuration database
To make a VIF usable, execute the following command to specify the IP address and netmask for the
VIF. You can also use this command to modify certain ifconfig options for a network.
<installdirectory>/bin/ibrix_nic -c -n IFNAME -h HOSTNAME [-I IPADDR] [-M NETMASK]
[-B BCASTADDR] [-T MTU]
Maintaining the system72