Managing Serviceguard 12th Edition, March 2006

Understanding Serviceguard Hardware Configurations
Redundant Network Components
Chapter 238
Redundant Network Components
To eliminate single points of failure for networking, each subnet accessed
by a cluster node is required to have redundant network interfaces.
Redundant cables are also needed to protect against cable failures. Each
interface card is connected to a different cable, and the cables themselves
are connected by a component such as a hub or a bridge. In the case of
FDDI networks, each interface card is connected via a cable to a different
concentrator. This arrangement of physical cables connected to each
other via a bridge or concentrator or switch is known as a bridged net.
IP addresses can be associated with interfaces on a bridged net. An
interface that has an IP address associated with it is known as a
primary interface, and an interface that does not have an IP address
associated with it is known as a standby interface. Standby interfaces
are those which are available for switching by Serviceguard if a failure
occurs on the primary. When Serviceguard detects a primary interface
failure, it will switch the IP addresses and any associated connections
from the failed interface card to a healthy standby interface card.
A selection of network configurations is described further in the
following sections. For detailed information about supported network
configurations, consult Hewlett-Packard support.
NOTE Fibre Channel networks are no longer supported as heartbeat or data
LANs.
Redundant Ethernet Configuration
The use of redundant network components is shown in Figure 2-1, which
is an Ethernet configuration. Token ring is configured in a similar
fashion.