HP Auto Port Aggregation Administrator's Guide for HP-UX 11i v3 September 2008

Card (NIC) thereby reducing host CPU utilization. This functionality can significantly reduce
the load on the server for certain applications which primarily transmit large amounts of data
from the system.
In link aggregates, TSO has the following behavior:
• If TSO is enabled on all of the physical ports in a link aggregate, TSO is enabled for the entire
link aggregate. If any of the ports within that link aggregate go DOWN or UP, the TSO status
of the link aggregate does not change. After the physical ports are added to the aggregate,
the TSO capability of the physical ports cannot be changed.
• If a port is removed from a link aggregate, the following occurs:
— If TSO was supported on the link aggregate before removing the port, TSO remains
enabled on the link aggregate.
— If TSO was disabled on the link aggregate before removing the port, TSO of the link
aggregate is based on remaining ports in the link aggregate. If all remaining ports
support TSO, TSO is enabled on the link aggregate; otherwise, TSO remains disabled.
• If a port is added to a link aggregate, the TSO settings are recalculated. If the added port
has TSO disabled, TSO is disabled on the link aggregate.
In failover groups, the TSO status depends on the TSO status of the current active port. When
the active port is changed, the TSO status of the failover group might change. For example, an
active port supports TSO and the standby port does not. Therefore, the failover group supports
TSO. If the active port goes down, the standby port becomes active and the failover group now
no longer supports TSO.
By default, TSO is disabled. To enable TSO on each specific interface, see the Ethernet Support
Guide, available in http://www.docs.hp.com, in the Networking and Communication section.
To verify if TSO is supported on an link aggregate or failover group, enter the following command:
# nwmgr -A vmtu -I instance -S apa
lan900 current values:
Virtual Maximum Transmission Unit = 0
In this example, a zero value indicates TSO is not enabled.
VLAN Support
VLANs over link aggregates and failover groups have the same advantages of VLANs over
physical links, but with the following additional features:
• VLANs over link aggregates offer higher bandwidth than VLANs over a single physical
link.
• VLANs over failover groups offer improved reliability. The VLANs continue to carry traffic
in case the active link failed.
• You can use VLANs over one link aggregate to serve multiple workgroups. This also enables
broadcast traffic to be isolated within the same broadcast domain, offering improved security
for workgroups.
• The same link aggregate or failover group can offer different level of service for each user
using ToS. You gain more flexibility in how you deploy link aggregates and failover groups.
• You can create, remove, and modify VLANs over link aggregates and failover groups without
rebooting the system. This enables you to configure networking on a server without
disrupting other users.
For more information on managing and using VLANs, see HP-UX VLAN Administrator's Guide
and your switch documentation.
Appendix D (page 105) describes characteristics of using VLANs over link aggregates and failover
groups and guidelines for each configuration.
16 Introduction