Re: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet Switch for Load balancing/fail over

Larry, is the i on i bridge using the same vswitch as a SEA? In that case,
do you know if the performance of the vswitch has been raised in P8/P9? I
had read that virtual ethernet performace maxed out around 1.5Gbps and that
was a problem when getting into 10Gbps land...

On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 12:04 PM DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This is the usual way I do this. Two cards is generally sufficient but
if you have three using one port from each is good redundancy.

A single bridge will generally handle all three guest partitions without
breaking a sweat.

In theory you COULD create a bridge for each but that's over
complicating things. If you DO decide this is what you want be certain
to use different VLAN numebrs internally for each bridge or you will
create a loop that can take down your network!!

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 10/19/2018 10:36 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

Larry,

I only have a few LPARS, an no VIOS.
So with this new Ethernet AGG config option, I'm rethinking my overall

Ethernet configuration.

Instead of having each LPAR have its own 5899, which I've done in the

past,

I'd have my main LPAR own all 3 5899, then Ethernet bridge to the other

LPARS as needed.

Any Pros/Cons on this?

Question,
Are there any reasons why an LPAR should/must have its own physical

Ethernet?

It's been years since I configured the bridge.
Reviewing the Ethernet bridge configuration.
Looking at my current config, I see you can only assign one resource

for the bridge, CMN10 in this case.

That resource is a virtual resource, CMN10 268C.
Question,
So no actual physical resources are required for the bridge, is this

correct?

Line description . . . . . . . . . : ETHBRIDGE
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : *BASIC
Category of line . . . . . . . . . : *ELAN

Resource name . . . . . . . . . . : CMN10
Bridge identifier . . . . . . . . : BRIDGE1

Looking back at my old notes, I found IBM tech doc N1011193 - Ethernet

Bridging Between IBM i Host and IBM i Guest.

There is a statement within this that raises some concerns.

Important Note: IBM suggests that the selected Ethernet resources be

used for only layer-2 bridging and not for IBM i TCP/IP configuration.
There is a significant increase in processor usage for any host traffic
that uses bridged resources. In addition, any line description that is used
for bridging receives many frames that are not useful to the TCP/IP stack.
These frames use unnecessary processing resources. The virtual Ethernet
line on the host does not require an interface. You only need the physical
and virtual lines active for the bridge function to work. You should not
have an interface on the physical line used for the bridge either. Create a
separate physical line & interface for network traffic on the Host.

So what is IBM exactly stating here?

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of

DrFranken

Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 9:14 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over

Absolutely and another thing I recommend. It gives some additional
throughput as well as redundancy for those hosted LPARs.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 10/19/2018 9:06 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

Larry,

Can the ETHAGG line also be bridged for use on another LPAR.

Years back I created a Ethernet bridge for my Ethernet on one my

sandbox LPARS.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of

DrFranken

Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 8:58 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over

YES and I recommend this. The limit is 8 ports aggregated and in theory
those could be from two to eight physical cards. Of course eight is a
lot of switch ports to chew up!!

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 10/19/2018 8:32 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

Larry,

Thanks for the additional info.

Another question.
If I had a 2nd 5899, could I include some or all of those resources

as part of the line description.

This would provide a higher level of protection.
If the entire 5899 would fail, the 2nd 5899 would keep everything up

and running.

CRTLINETH LIND(ETHAGG) RSRCNAME(*AGG) AGGPCY(*LNKAGG *DFT)

AGGRSCL(CMN02 CMN03 CMN10 CMN11)

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of DrFranken

Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2018 9:45 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over

You are correct that this support was enabled in TR3 though LACP wasn't
supported until a later TR (TR7) which hopefully every one already

has!!!

You should choose *LNKAGG if your switches support that. This is a more
standard implementation while *ETHCHL was a Cisco only spec that some
other manufacturers did support.

For the policy that's an 'It Depends' question as this is what
determines which link in the bundle to send the packets across.

Consider

that with a single connection between IBM i and another device, such as
each file during an FTP session, only 1 link of the bundle is used.

This

simply determines which of the links is chosen for each connection.

If you have a lot of connections (e.g. many users) then I recommend
leaving the default of *DFT there. Second choice would be *SRCDESTP.

Do note that in this thread there has been discussion about vPC/vLAGG
(Virtual Port Channel/Virtual Link Agg). This is not supported in very
many switches in my experience but more importantly I have never been
able to make it work from IBM i to a switch pair that DOES support it.
IN THEORY it should work as there isn't any config required on the
downstream (which would be IBM i) Side.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 10/18/2018 8:52 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

First of all, thanks to everyone for all the tips and links.

I did some research.
Ethernet Link Aggregation was announced 10/14/2011 V7R1 TR3.
This is why it is missing from most of the "older" links on TCP/IP

load balancing/fail over.

Also referencing link by Dawn May,

http://ibmsystemsmag.com/blogs/i-can/archive/ethernet-link-aggregation-in-ibm-i/

"In short, Ethernet Link Aggregation lets 7.1 TR3 users make better

use of their Ethernet resources, potentially improving the reliability and
performance of their network workloads without purchasing any additional
hardware."

ELA is probably the simplest, easiest, quickest to implement.

From Dawn's example,

CRTLINETH LIND(ETHAGG) RSRCNAME(*AGG) AGGPCY(*ETHCHL *SRCDESTP)

AGGRSCL(CMN02 CMN03)

Questions.

1) Our proposed switch will be Cisco Catalyst 6506-E
Do I have options on the Cisco or must LACP be used?

2) Should AGGPCY be set to *ETHCHL or *LNKAGG?
Based on the one link, I'm thinking *LNKAGG
IBM(r) i Link Aggregation supports static aggregation (*ETHCHL) with

any link partner, and supports LACP (*LNKAGG) with Cisco and IBM Networking
switches. Other LACP-capable link partners might work, but are not
officially supported.

*ETHCHL
Specifies to use Etherchannel technology to allow
several Ethernet adapters to be aggregated together to
form a single psuedo Ethernet device.
*LNKAGG
Specifies to use IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
technology to allow several Ethernet adapters to be
aggregated together to form a single psuedo Ethernet
device.

3) What should Policy type be set to? *DFT, *SRCPORT, *DESTPORT,

*SRCDESTP, *RNDRBN

*DFT
The adapter selection algorithm uses the last byte of the
Destination IP address (for TCP/IP traffic) or MAC address

(for ARP

and other non-IP traffic). This mode is typically the best

initial

choice for a server with a large number of clients.
*SRCPORT
The adapter selection algorithm uses the source TCP/IP or UDP

port

value.
*DESTPORT
The outgoing adapter path is selected via an algorithm using

the

destination TCP/IP or UDP port value.
*SRCDESTP
The outgoing adapter path is selected via an algorithm using

the

combined source and destination TCP or UDP port values.
*RNDRBN
Outgoing traffic is spread evenly across all the adapter

ports in

the Etherchannel. This mode is the typical choice for two

host

connected back-to-back (i.e. without a intervening switch).

Paul






-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of Steinmetz, Paul

Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 2:46 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over

Jim,

The solution you sent in the first link appears the simplest/easiest.
Ethernet Link Aggregation - Link Aggregation binds several

full-duplex Ethernet links running at the same speed together into one
logical link with a single Media Access Control (MAC) address.

One interface, One line description with multiple resources.

I'm not seeing that solution as part of the 2nd link starting at page

25.

Is this a "newer" solution, possibly not included with some of the

older docs.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of Jim Oberholtzer

Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 2:31 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over

Rob:

VIOS is by far and away the best way to virtualize Ethernet and

provide for

failover/load balancing. That said I don't think Paul has that

environment.

Paul:

As someone pointed out VIPA might fit the situation as well. Here's

a

document that explains all:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_72/rzajw/rzajwpdf.pdf

Start on about page 25. It'll talk about workload balancing and then

next

scenario is failover.

I find VIPA to be confusing to most folks, particularly the non IBM i
network administrator that will most likely understand what your

trying to

do but then not be helpful in the end since it's not Microsoft/Cisco.


--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of Rob

Berendt
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 1:21 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch

for Load balancing/fail over

We use two VIOS lpars. One controls one ethernet card and the other
controls the other. They both go to different switches.
I'm so damned confident of this solution that I've upgraded VIOS

during the

middle of the day. Of course when you use the same solution on three

Power

systems and you test it out on the sandbox machine first it helps.


Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600

Mail

to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com





From: "Steinmetz, Paul" <PSteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'"
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 10/16/2018 02:13 PM
Subject: RE: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd

Eternet

Switch for Load balancing/fail over
Sent by: "MIDRANGE-L" <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>



Jim,

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzajy/rzajylinka

gg.htm


Thanks for that link.
The diagram was very helpful.
So only one interface and line description are used.
No changes to the interface, only to the line description.

AGGPCY (Aggregate policy) would be set to either *ETHCHL or *LNKAGG

(Not

sure which method at this point)
AGGRSCL (Aggregated resource list) would contain the resource names

CMN01,

CMN02.

One key question.
The link prerequisites states that this solution is only valid

everything

is going to one/same switch.
" All of the ports must be connected to the same link partner

(switch)."

My intended solution is going to a 2nd switch.

Is there a different configuration if a 2nd switch is involved?

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of Jim

Oberholtzer
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 12:07 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch

for Load balancing/fail over

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzajy/rzajylinka

gg.htm






--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf

Of

Steinmetz, Paul
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 10:54 AM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion' <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: How to configure a 2nd Enthernet port to a 2nd Eternet

Switch for

Load balancing/fail over

I'm looking for a resource (pdf/link) on how to configure a 2nd

Ethernet

port to a 2nd Ethernet Switch for Load balancing/fail over.
The goal is to provide a higher level of redundancy for if either the

5899

PCI port or the Ethernet switch would fail.
The 2nd port would be connected to a 2nd switch.

I need the details for both the Interface and line description, and

any

other TCP/IP config changes (default routes, static routes, etc), if
needed.

Thank You
_____
Paul Steinmetz
IBM i Systems Administrator

Pencor Services, Inc.
462 Delaware Ave
Palmerton Pa 18071

610-826-9117 work
610-826-9188 fax
610-349-0913 cell
610-377-6012 home

psteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pencor.com/


--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate

link:
http://amzn.to/2dEadiD

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate

link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD
--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate

link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD


--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)

mailing list

To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related

questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate link:

http://amzn.to/2dEadiD

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)

mailing list

To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related

questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)

mailing list

To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related

questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our

affiliate link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our affiliate
link: http://amzn.to/2dEadiD