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SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

  • 1.  SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 01:17 PM
    Hello,

    Is it possible to configure SEA failover with load sharing on a single VIOS with 2 ports of a single ethernet adapter? If yes, how it could it be done.
    Only documentation I can find online is for dual VIOS.

    Regards
    Justin

    ------------------------------
    Justin Francis
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 01:23 PM
    On Mon, Mar 07, 2022 at 06:16:47PM +0000, Justin Francis via IBM Community wrote:
    >
    > Is it possible to configure SEA failover with load sharing on a
    > single VIOS with 2 ports of a single ethernet adapter? If yes, how
    > it could it be done. Only documentation I can find online is for
    > dual VIOS.

    Why not just create an Etherchannel adapter? EC is used for local
    failover and link aggregation between ports.

    I think that is more suitable for your situation.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Russell Adams Russell.Adams@AdamsSystems.nl
    Principal Consultant Adams Systems Consultancy
    http://adamssystems.nl/


    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 01:25 PM
    Hello Justin,

    Yes , Etherchannel is meant for the same purpose . And best world wide protocol for Load sharing in etherchannel is "8023ad" (LACP) .

    https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aix/7.2?topic=teaming-configuring-etherchannel

    ------------------------------
    Deepak Menezes
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 05:43 PM
    Thank you Russell and Deepak for your inputs.
    Will etherchannel (8023ad) works with vlan tagging as well. Also is there specific pre-requisites for it.

    ------------------------------
    Justin Francis
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Mon March 07, 2022 10:32 PM
    Hello Justin,

    Yes it needs a special switch configuration of the type of LACP , so you will need to work with your switch team too . Also there are different Hash Modes available ,which you will need to explore to see, which one suits you the best .
    https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aix/7.2?topic=configuration-configuring-ieee-8023ad-link-aggregation

    ------------------------------
    Deepak Menezes
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Tue March 08, 2022 02:18 PM
    On Mon, Mar 07, 2022 at 10:43:09PM +0000, Justin Francis via IBM Community wrote:
    > Will etherchannel (8023ad) works with vlan tagging as well. Also is
    > there specific pre-requisites for it.

    Yes, it can work with VLAN tagging. Both LACP and VLANs require
    network switch configuration which must match on your host side.

    Often switch ports configured with LACP will NOT work without it.

    Some older switches have a limit for how many LACP groups (Port
    Channel Group?) they can create. You'll also want to check if you are
    connecting to the same switch or two switches. Some older switches
    cannot aggregate across switches.

    On the other hand, you can create an Etherchannel device in failover
    mode only which has relatively few prerequisites. LACP is for
    aggregation and failover, while "Network Interface Backup" mode is
    failover only and uses the link state to swap ports. NIB ports are a
    "blind" swap at the switch, so there is no configuration for
    aggregation.

    Expect an outage while you reconfigure your ports, both on VIO and the
    network.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Russell Adams Russell.Adams@AdamsSystems.nl
    Principal Consultant Adams Systems Consultancy
    http://adamssystems.nl/


    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Wed March 09, 2022 01:27 PM
    Hello Russell,

    Our objective is to achieve both failover and load balancing using 2 ports of same adapter. 

    Here is the current setup of our VIOS and LACP which I have configured:

    1.) Physical ethernet ports on VIO:
    lsdev -vpd | grep ent
    Model Implementation: Multiple Processor, PCI bus
    ent0 U78D2.001.WZS0Y3L-P1-C5-T1 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent1 U78D2.001.WZS0Y3L-P1-C5-T2 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent2 U78D2.001.WZS0Y3L-P1-C5-T3 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent3 U78D2.001.WZS0Y3L-P1-C5-T4 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)

    2.) All ent device configured on VIO:
    lsdev | grep ent
    ent0 Available 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent1 Available 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent2 Available 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent3 Available 4-Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express Adapter (e414571614102004)
    ent4 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
    ent5 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
    ent6 Available EtherChannel / IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
    ent8 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
    ent9 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter

    3.) ent0 is setup for VIO management. ent1 and ent2 is used for LACP and ent3 is used for isolated network.

    4.) Created LACP adapter (ent6) using command mkvdev -lnagg ent1 ent2 -attr mode=8023ad
    Here are its attribute:
    $ lsdev -dev ent6 -attr
    attribute value description user_settable

    adapter_names ent1,ent2 EtherChannel Adapters True
    alt_addr 0x000000000000 Alternate EtherChannel Address True
    auto_recovery yes Enable automatic recovery after failover True
    backup_adapter NONE Adapters to use when the primary channel fails True
    hash_mode src_dst_port Determines how outgoing adapter is chosen True
    hcn_id 0 Hybrid Converged Network ID True
    interval long Determines interval value for IEEE 802.3ad mode True
    mac_swap no Enable MAC address swap between primary and backup on failover True
    mode 8023ad EtherChannel mode of operation True
    netaddr 0 Address to ping True
    noloss_failover yes Enable lossless failover after ping failure True
    num_retries 3 Times to retry ping before failing True
    retry_time 1 Wait time (in seconds) between pings True
    use_alt_addr no Enable Alternate EtherChannel Address True
    use_jumbo_frame no Enable Gigabit Ethernet Jumbo Frames True

    I tried assigning an IP on LACP adapter, however its not pinging. 
    Please suggest.

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    Justin Francis
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Wed March 09, 2022 03:52 PM
    First of all, thank you for including detailed output and inventory in
    your reply! Great job, and it makes it easier to help. Responses
    inline below, trimmed for brevity.

    On Wed, Mar 09, 2022 at 06:27:09PM +0000, Justin Francis via IBM Community wrote:
    > 4.) Created LACP adapter (ent6) using command mkvdev -lnagg ent1 ent2 -attr mode=8023ad
    > Here are its attribute:
    > $ lsdev -dev ent6 -attr
    > attribute value description user_settable
    >
    > adapter_names ent1,ent2 EtherChannel Adapters True
    > hash_mode src_dst_port Determines how outgoing adapter is chosen True
    > mode 8023ad EtherChannel mode of operation True

    This looks good.

    > I tried assigning an IP on LACP adapter, however its not pinging.

    With the adapter up and an IP assigned, try doing an 'entstat -d
    ent6' or 'netstat -v'.

    You should see information like this:

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Real Adapter: ent4

    ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent4) :
    Device Type: IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
    Hardware Address: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ... skip ...

    Statistics for every adapter in the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Number of adapters: 2
    Number of backup adapters: 0
    Active channel: primary channel
    Operating mode: Standard mode (IEEE 802.3ad)
    IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Statistics:
    Primary Aggregation status: Aggregated <<<<< OK!
    LACPDU Interval: Long
    Received LACPDUs: 579880 <<<<< OK!
    Transmitted LACPDUs: 579699
    Received marker PDUs: 0
    Transmitted marker PDUs: 0
    Received marker response PDUs: 0
    Transmitted marker response PDUs: 0
    Received unknown PDUs: 0
    Received illegal PDUs: 0
    Hash mode: Source and destination TCP/UDP ports
    MAC swap: disabled
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Also, 'entstat -d ent6 | grep SYNC' should be like:
    Synchronization: IN_SYNC
    Synchronization: IN_SYNC

    If it says other values, like LIMBO or out of sync then you may have a
    switch configuration issue.

    Also confirm your links there too, 'entstat -d ent6 | grep Link':
    Statistics for every adapter in the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation:
    IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Statistics:
    Physical Port Link Status: Up <<<< OK!
    Logical Port Link Status: Up
    PCIe Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
    Physical Port Link Status: Up <<<<< OK!
    Logical Port Link Status: Up
    PCIe Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

    If they say down, check your cables.

    Thanks.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Russell Adams Russell.Adams@AdamsSystems.nl
    Principal Consultant Adams Systems Consultancy
    http://adamssystems.nl/


    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 10:11 AM
    Justin

    Remember that:
    IP must be configured on SEA adapter. In your case is ent9 (alternative: over an virtual adapter with PVID=VLAN desired)(ie. creating an ent10)

    ent6 is Real Adapter (LACP), bonding ent1 & ent2.
    ent8 is your virtual adaptar to define VLANs.

    Best Regards


    ------------------------------
    Humberto Sosa
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 10:47 AM
    On Thu, Mar 10, 2022 at 03:10:47PM +0000, Humberto Sosa via IBM Community wrote:
    > Remember that: IP must be configured on SEA adapter. In your case is
    > ent9 (alternative: over an virtual adapter with PVID=VLAN
    > desired)(ie. creating an ent10)

    Humberto, this is not true. In fact you should never put an IP on the
    SEA adapter. It increases CPU overhead because the bridge adapter
    (SEA) must now scan every passing packet for that IP.

    If you want a management IP for PowerVM, use a separate physical
    adapter as Justin did or make another virtual adapter and make VIO a
    client of itself. Then the virtual switch does the packet filtering at
    the hypervisor.

    > ent6 is Real Adapter (LACP), bonding ent1 & ent2.
    > ent8 is your virtual adaptar to define VLANs.

    It sounded like he was testing an IP on the Etherchannel adapter,
    which is a fine testing method. Later he must remove the IP on the EC
    adapter, so it can be used by the SEA.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Russell Adams Russell.Adams@AdamsSystems.nl
    Principal Consultant Adams Systems Consultancy
    http://adamssystems.nl/


    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: SEA Failover and Load Sharing on single VIOS

    Posted Thu March 10, 2022 11:24 AM
    Justin

    Here the IBM procedures
    How to Setup SEA Failover on DUAL VIO servers

    How to Setup SEA Failover on DUAL VIO servers with VLAN Tagged Ethernet Adapters
    If your ports in LAN sw has been modified the default native vlan, the phy adapters does not ping.
    Every procedure is with dual vios. You can apply the VIOS1 steps.

    According to Power implementation quality standard document, this is the best, recommended and common scenario. When i wrote "(alternative: over an virtual adapter with PVID=VLAN desired)(ie. creating an ent10)
    ", is like in the figure: VIOS2 ip addr over virt adapt ent8.
    In your scenario, you have only ent8 to do this.


     
    But, really this forum is to contribute... 

    Regards

    ------------------------------
    Humberto Sosa
    ------------------------------

    Original Message