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Logical Domains 1.3 Administration Guide

Using Link-Based IPMP in Logical Domains Virtual Networking

With Logical Domains 1.3, the virtual network and virtual switch devices support link status updates to the network stack. By default, a virtual network device reports the status of its virtual link (its LDC to the virtual switch). This setup is enabled by default and does not require you to perform additional configuration steps.

Sometimes it might be necessary to detect physical network link state changes. For instance, if a physical device has been assigned to a virtual switch, even if the link from a virtual network device to its virtual switch device is up, the physical network link from the service domain to the external network might be down. In such a case, it might be necessary to obtain and report the physical link status to the virtual network device and its stack.

The linkprop=phys-state option can be used to configure physical link state tracking for virtual network devices as well as for virtual switch devices. When this option is enabled, the virtual device (virtual network or virtual switch) reports its link state based on the physical link state while it is plumbed as an interface in the domain. You can use standard Solaris network administration commands such as dladm and ifconfig to check the link status. See the dladm(1M) and ifconfig(1M) man pages. In addition, the link status is also logged in the /var/adm/messages file.

Note –

You can run both link-state-unaware and link-state-aware vnet and vsw drivers concurrently on a Logical Domains system. However, if you intend to configure link-based IPMP, you must install the link-state-aware driver. If you intend to enable physical link state updates, upgrade both the vnet and vsw drivers to the Solaris 10 10/09 OS, and run at least Version 1.3 of the Logical Domains Manager.

ProcedureConfigure Physical Link Status Updates

This procedure shows how to enable physical link status updates for virtual network devices.

You can also enable physical link status updates for a virtual switch device by following similar steps and specifying the linkprop=phys-state option to the ldm add-vsw and ldm set-vsw commands.

Note –

You need to use the linkprop=phys-state option only if the virtual switch device itself is plumbed as an interface. If linkprop=phys-state is specified and the physical link is down, the virtual network device reports its link status as down, even if the connection to the virtual switch is up. This situation occurs because the Solaris OS does not currently provide interfaces to report two distinct link states, such as virtual-link-state and physical-link-state.

  1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

    Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

  2. Enable physical link status updates for the virtual device.

    You can enable physical link status updates for a virtual network device in the following ways:

    • Create a virtual network device by specifying linkprop=phys-state when running the ldm add-vnet command.

      Specifying the linkprop=phys-state option configures the virtual network device to obtain physical link state updates and report them to the stack.

      Note –

      If linkprop=phys-state is specified and the physical link is down (even if the connection to the virtual switch is up), the virtual network device reports its link status as down. This situation occurs because the Solaris OS does not currently provide interfaces to report two distinct link states, such as virtual-link-state and physical-link-state.


      # ldm add-vnet linkprop=phys-state if-name vswitch-name ldom

      The following example enables physical link status updates for vnet0 connected to primary-vsw0 on the logical domain ldom1:


      # ldm add-vnet linkprop=phys-state vnet0 primary-vsw0 ldom1

    • Modify an existing virtual network device by specifying linkprop=phys-state when running the ldm set-vnet command.


      # ldm set-vnet linkprop=phys-state if-name ldom

      The following example enables physical link status updates for vnet0 on the logical domain ldom1:


      # ldm set-vnet linkprop=phys-state vnet0 ldom1

    To disable physical link state updates, specify linkprop= by running the ldm set-vnet command.

    The following example disables physical link status updates for vnet0 on the logical domain ldom1:


    # ldm set-vnet linkprop= vnet0 ldom1
Example 7–1 Configuring Link-Based IPMP

The following examples show how to configure link-based IPMP both with and without enabling physical link status updates: