Administrator's Guide

Planning the Fabric
Hyper Messaging Protocol (HMP)
Chapter 230
HyperFabric clusters running HMP applications are limited to
supporting a maximum of 64 adapter cards. However, in local
failover configurations, a maximum of only 52 adapters are
supported.
In point-to-point configurations running HMP applications, the
complexity and performance limitations of having a large number of
nodes in a cluster make it necessary to include switches in the fabric.
Typically, point-to-point configurations consist of only 2 or 3 nodes.
In switched configurations running HMP applications, HyperFabric
supports a maximum of 64 interconnected adapter cards.
A maximum of 8 HyperFabric adapter cards are supported per
instance of the HP-UX operating system. The actual number of
adapter cards a particular node is able to accommodate also depends
on slot availability and system resources. See node specific
documentation for details.
A maximum of 8 configured IP addresses are supported by the
HyperFabric subsystem per instance of the HP-UX operating system.
• Maximum Number of Switches
You can interconnect (mesh) up to 4 switches (16-port fiber or Mixed
8 fiber ports) in a single HyperFabric cluster.
• Trunking Between Switches (multiple connections)
Trunking between switches can be used to increase bandwidth and
cluster throughput. Trunking is also a way to eliminate a possible
single point of failure. The number of trunked cables between nodes
is only limited by port availability. To assess the effects of trunking
on the performance of any particular HyperFabric configuration,
contact your HP representative.
• Maximum Cable Lengths
HF2 (fiber): The maximum distance is 200m (4 standard cable
lengths are sold and supported: 2m, 16m, 50m and 200m).
HMP supports up to 4 HF2 switches connected in series with a
maximum cable length of 200m between the switches and 200m
between switches and nodes.
HMP supports up to 4 hybrid HF2 switches connected in series with
a maximum cable length of 200m between fiber ports.