apa(7)apa(7)NAMEapa - HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) to create link aggregates (often
called trunks) and failover groups of network links
DESCRIPTION
HP APA, the HP link aggregate or trunking product, provides the ability
to logically group two or more physical network ports into a single Fat
Pipe, often called a 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. HP APA is available
for HP-UX 11i V1, V2 and V3.
In addition to increased performance, enterprise users require protec‐
tion against business interruptions and loss of productivity. HP APA
features automatic link failure detection and the ability to transfer
traffic to one of the redundant links in a specified failover group.
This is done transparently to the applications to ensure a highly
available environment.
Like any other LAN interface, configure IP addresses on these APA lan
interfaces using the command. See ifconfig(1M)) for more information.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
HP APA provides the following key benefits:
· Bandwidth scalability: Allows scaling of networks to improve
aggregate throughput.
· High availability: Provides redundancy or link aggregate of
network ports.
· Load balancing: Supports load balancing and failure recovery
capabilities and distributes traffic across the aggregated
links, based on IP addresses, TCP/UDP Port numbers, or MAC
addresses.
· Single MAC address: Assigns one single logical MAC address to
an aggregate and all its ports.
· Flexibility: Allows addition and deletion of ports in an
aggregate to achieve desired performance whenever needed.
· Investment protection: Utilizes Ethernet technology, which
provides a natural upgrade path for current Ethernet instal‐
lations, leveraging existing end-stations, management tools
and training.
· Lower IT costs: Provides automated configuration and manage‐
ment tools using the IEEE 802.3ad standard or FEC protocol.
CONFIGURATION MODES
HP APA allows the following configuration modes:
· Used for link aggregates on HP servers that are connected to
a switch that has manual aggregation (trunk) configured.
· Used for link aggregates on HP servers that are connected to
a switch that has aggregation (trunk) configured with Cisco's
Fast EtherChannel (FEC) protocol, also known as PAgP.
· Used for link aggregates on HP servers that are connected to
a switch that has aggregation (trunk) configured with IEEE
802.3ad (LACP) protocol.
· Used for failover group configuration on HP servers. There
is no special feature required on switch connected to the
links.
MANAGING APA CONFIGURATION
APA interfaces can be configured and managed by using the (SMH):
· On the SMH page, click the tab, then click in the section.
· Use the text based interactive tool:
See smh(1M) for more information.
APA interfaces can also be configured and managed by using the command
line interface. See nwmgr(1M) and nwmgr_apa(1M) manpages or run:
for information on how to use the command for configuring APA inter‐
faces.
APA interfaces can also be configured and managed by using the legacy
command for link aggregates and by using the command for failover
group. These commands are available since initial release of the prod‐
uct. However, starting with the HP-UX 11i V3 APA product, HP recom‐
mends using the command instead of using and commands.
See the documents listed in the for details on how to use these com‐
mands.
PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION
For detailed information, including installation, configuration, and
troubleshooting, please see the following documents at in the I/O Cards
and Networking Software collection:
·
·
WARNINGS
The and commands are deprecated. These commands will be removed in a
future HP-UX release. HP recommends the use of replacement command to
perform all network interface-related tasks.
FILES
Link Aggregate configuration file
Port configuration file
Failover group configuration file
AUTHORS
The Auto Port Aggregation (APA) product is developed by HP.
SEE ALSOnetstat(1), ifconfig(1M), lanadmin(1M), lanscan(1M), linkloop(1M),
nwmgr(1M), nwmgr_apa(1M), smh(1M), lan(7).
apa(7)