Managing Serviceguard 13th Edition, February 2007

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 Serial (RS232) lines are no longer supported for the cluster heartbeat.
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.