HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) Release Notes HP-UX 11i v3 February 2007

This document provides information about the HP-UX 11i v3 release of HP Auto Port Aggregation
(APA).
HP APA Overview
This release of HP APA now supports the aggregation of eight physical ports into a link aggregate,
IPv6 addressing for link aggregates and LAN Monitor failover groups, TSO (TCP Segmentation
Offload), Proactive Failover Support (PFO) for failover groups (link aggregates in LAN_MONITOR
mode), 64-bit statistics, and 8-port link aggregates.
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 Serviceguard. 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 in the failover group.
New and Changed Features in This Release
The B.11.31.02 version of HP APA:
• Supports the TSO (TCP Segmentation Offload), also known as Large Send, feature if an
aggregate is created with Ethernet cards that all support TSO or if the active port in a failover
group supports TSO.
• Supports 64-bit MIB (RFC 2863) statistics if all the interfaces within a link aggregation or
failover group support 64-bit statistics.
• Supports proactive failover for failover groups.
Proactive failover is a cost-based failover policy in which each port in a failover group is
assigned a cost. With this policy, the active port of a failover group is always the link that
is the most efficient at carrying traffic. Efficiency is measured in terms of normalized port
cost, which is the assigned port cost divided by the port's current link speed. The lower the
normalized port cost, the higher the efficiency.
• Supports the creation of Virtual LANs (VLANs) over link aggregates and failover groups.
• Supports the aggregation of up to eight physical ports into a MANUAL or FEC_AUTO mode
link aggregate.
For proper operation, the link partner (switch or server) must also be configured to create
a trunk using same mode on those ports that are connected to the physical ports of the link
aggregate. LACP_AUTO and LAN_MONITOR modes continue to support up to 32 ports
into a link aggregate or failover group.
• Supports IPv6 addressing for link aggregates and LAN Monitor failover groups.
You can now use port-based (LB_PORT) and IP-based (LB_IP) load balancing for IPv6 traffic
on link aggregates. In addition, you can configure an IPv6 address on the primary port of
a failover group.
HP APA Overview 5