System Administration Guide: IP Services

Configuring Target Systems

Probe-based failure detection involves the use of target systems, as explained in Probe-Based Failure Detection. For some IPMP groups, the default targets used by in.mpathd is sufficient. However, for some IPMP groups, you might want to configure specific targets for probe-based failure detection. You accomplish probe-based failure detection by setting up host routes in the routing table as probe targets. Any host routes that are configured in the routing table are listed before the default router. Therefore, IPMP uses the explicitly defined host routes for target selection. You can use either of two methods for directly specifying targets: manually setting host routes or creating a shell script that can become a startup script.

Consider the following criteria when evaluating which hosts on your network might make good targets.

Make sure that the prospective targets are available and running. Make a list of their IP addresses.
Ensure that the target interfaces are on the same network as the IPMP group that you are configuring.
The netmask and broadcast address of the target systems must be the same as the addresses in the IPMP group.
The target host must be able to answer ICMP requests from the interface that is using probe-based failure detection.

Procedure How to Manually Specify Target Systems for Probe-Based Failure Detection

Log in with your user account to the system where you are configuring probe-based failure detection.
Add a route to a particular host to be used as a target in probe-based failure detection.
$ route add -host destination-IP gateway-IP -static
Replace the values of destination-IP and gateway-IP with the IPv4 address of the host to be used as a target. For example, you would type the following to specify the target system 192.168.85.137, which is on the same subnet as the interfaces in IPMP group testgroup1.
$ route add -host 192.168.85.137 192.168.85.137 -static
Add routes to additional hosts on the network to be used as target systems.

Procedure How to Specify Target Systems in a Shell Script

On the system where you have configured an IPMP group, assume the Primary Administrator role or become superuser.
The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, "Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks)," in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Create a shell script that sets up static routes to your proposed targets.

For example, you could create a shell script called ipmp.targets with the following contents:

TARGETS="192.168.85.117 192.168.85.127 192.168.85.137"

case "$1" in
        'start')
            /usr/bin/echo "Adding static routes for use as IPMP targets"
		for target in $TARGETS; do
	  /usr/sbin/route add -host $target $target
		done
                  ;;
        'stop')
              /usr/bin/echo "Removing static routes for use as IPMP targets"
		 for target in $TARGETS; do
		/usr/sbin/route delete -host $target $target
		 done
                  ;;
  esac

Copy the shell script to the startup script directory.
# cp ipmp.targets /etc/init.d
Change the permissions on the new startup script.
# chmod 744 /etc/init.d/ipmp.targets
Change ownership of the new startup script.
# chown root:sys /etc/init.d/ipmp.targets
Create a link for the startup script in the /etc/init.d directory.
# ln /etc/init.d/ipmp.targets /etc/rc2.d/S70ipmp.targets
The S70 prefix in the file name S70ipmp.targets orders the new script properly with respect to other startup scripts.

Configuring Standby Interfaces

Use this procedure if you want the IPMP group to have an active-standby configuration. For more information on this type of configuration, refer to IPMP Interface Configurations.

Procedure How to Configure a Standby Interface for an IPMP Group

Before You Begin

You must have configured all interfaces as members of the IPMP group.
You should not have configured a test address on the interface to become the standby interface.

For information on configuring an IPMP group and assigning test addresses, refer to How to Configure an IPMP Group With Multiple Interfaces.

On the system with the standby interfaces to be configured, assume the Primary Administrator role or become superuser.
The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, "Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks)," in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Configure an interface as a standby and assign the test address.

# ifconfig interface plumb ip-address <other-parameters> deprecated -failover standby up

A standby interface can have only one IP address, the test address. You must set the -failover option before you set the standby up option. For <other-parameters>, use the parameters that are required by your configuration, as described in the ifconfig(1M) man page.

For example, to create an IPv4 test address, you would type the following command:

# ifconfig hme1 plumb 192.168.85.22 netmask + broadcast + deprecated -failover standby up

`hme1`	Defines `hme1` as the physical interface to be configured as the standby interface.
`192.168.85.22`	Assigns this test address to the standby interface.
`deprecated`	Indicates that the test address is not used for outbound packets.
`-failover`	Indicates that the test address does not fail over if the interface fails.
`standby`	Marks the interface as a standby interface.

For example, to create an IPv6 test address, you would type the following command:
# ifconfig hme1 plumb -failover standby up

Check the results of the standby interface configuration.

# ifconfig hme1
hme1: flags=69040843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,DEPRECATED,IPv4,NOFAILOVER,
      STANDBY,INACTIVE mtu 1500 
         index 4 inet 192.168.85.22 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 19.16.85.255
         groupname test

The INACTIVE flag indicates that this interface is not used for any outbound packets. When a failover occurs on this standby interface, the INACTIVE flag is cleared.

Note - You can always view the current status of an interface by typing the ifconfig interface command. For more information on viewing interface status, refer to How to Get Information About a Specific Interface.

(Optional) Preserve the IPv4 standby interface across reboots.
Assign the standby interface to the same IPMP group, and configure a test address for the standby interface.

For example, to configure hme1 as the standby interface, you would add the following line to the /etc/hostname.hme1 file:
192.168.85.22 netmask + broadcast + deprecated group test -failover standby up
(Optional) Preserve the IPv6 standby interface across reboots.
Assign the standby interface to the same IPMP group, and configure a test address for the standby interface.

For example, to configure hme1 as the standby interface, add the following line to the /etc/hostname6.hme1 file:
-failover group test standby up

Example 31-4 Configuring a Standby Interface for an IPMP Group

Suppose you want to create a test address with the following configuration:

Physical interface hme2 as a standby interface
Test address of 192.168.85.22
deprecated and -failover options set
Netmask and broadcast address set to the default value

You would type the following:

# ifconfig hme2 plumb 192.168.85.22 netmask + broadcast + deprecated -failover standby up

The interface is marked as a standby interface only after the address is marked as a NOFAILOVER address.

You would remove the standby status of an interface by typing the following:

# ifconfig interface -standby