HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) Release Notes HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3 (March 2011)

1 HP APA Overview for HP-UX 11i v1
This chapter provides information about the HP-UX 11i v1 (B.11.11.30) September 2007 release
of HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) and LAN Monitor software.
This release of HP APA now supports Nortel Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology and
MANUAL mode link aggregate creation from ports with different group capability values.
Auto Port Aggregation
HP APA is a software product that creates link aggregates, often called "trunks," which provide a
logical grouping of two or more physical ports into a single “Fat-Pipe.” Network traffic is load
balanced across all of the links in the aggregation, which allows you to build large bandwidth
logical links into the server that are highly available and completely transparent to the client and
server applications.
In addition, HP APA provides automatic link failure detection and recovery, and optional support
for load balancing of network traffic across all of the links in the aggregation.
HP APA supports HP Serviceguard with certain conditions. See the HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA)
Administrator's Guide for more information.
Failover Group
HP APA supports the creation of failover groups (link aggregates in LAN_MONITOR mode),
providing a failover capability for links. In the event of a link failure, LAN Monitor automatically
migrates traffic to an available, standby link (port or link aggregate) in the failover group. Failover
groups do not support HP Serviceguard.
New Features in This Release
The B.11.11.30 version of HP APA:
• Supports Nortel's Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology. A link aggregate can span over
more than one switch, which removes switches as a single point of failure.
• Enables the use of an optional HP_APA_LACP_TIMEOUT parameter in the
/etc/rc.config.d/hp_apaconf file. Valid values are 0 (slow) and 1 (fast). The default
value is 0.
• Supports the creation of MANUAL mode link aggregates with ports that do not have the same
group capability value. In addition, the ports are not required to have the same group capability
value as the link aggregate
• Supports the resetting of link aggregates and failover groups with the lanadmin command,
• Enables you to programmatically obtain the multicast addresses enabled on a link aggregate
or failover group.
See the HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) Administrator's Guide (HP Part Number J4240-90046)
for more information on the new features and how to use them.
Known Problems Fixed in This Version
Table 1.1 lists the known problems and fixes in this release of HP APA B.11.11.30.
Auto Port Aggregation 5