Solaris IP network multipathing
IPMP, or IP network multipathing, is a facility provided by the Solaris Operating System to provide fault-tolerance and load spreading for network interface cards (NICs). With IPMP, two or more NICs are dedicated for each network to which the host connects. Each interface is assigned a static "test" IP address, which is used to assess the operational state of the interface. Each virtual IP address is assigned to an interface, though there may be more interfaces than virtual IP addresses, some of the intefaces being purely for standby purposes. When the failure of an interface is detected its virtual IP addresses are swapped to an operational interface in the group.
The IPMP load spreading feature increases the machine's bandwidth by spreading the outbound load between all the cards in the same IPMP group.
in.mpathd is the daemon in the Solaris OS responsible for IPMP functionality.
See also
External links
- Enterprise Networking Article, February 2, 2006
- Sun Solaris IPMP configuration guide (requires registration)
- IPMP section from Sun Solaris 10 System Administration Guide
 | This computer networking article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |