HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions - Manual (Page 53)

fault tolerance, load balancing and/or bandwidth aggregation for the network interface cards in
the storage system. Bonds are created by joining physical NICs into a single logical interface. This
logical interface acts as the master interface, controlling and monitoring the physical slave interfaces.
Bonding two interfaces for failover provides fault tolerance at the local hardware level for network
communication. Failures of NICs, Ethernet cables, individual switch ports, and/or entire switches
can be tolerated while maintaining data availability. Bonding two interfaces for aggregation
provides bandwidth aggregation and localized fault tolerance. Bonding the interfaces for load
balancing provides both load balancing and localized fault tolerance.
IMPORTANT: NIC bonding between the two virtual NICs in the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware
vSphere is not supported. The HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V only supports a single
NIC.
Depending on your storage system hardware, network infrastructure design, and Ethernet switch
capabilities, you can bond NICs in one of three ways:
•
Active-Passive. You specify a preferred NIC for the bonded logical interface to use. If the
preferred NIC fails, then the logical interface begins using another NIC in the bond until the
preferred NIC resumes operation. When the preferred NIC resumes operation, data transfer
resumes on the preferred NIC.
•
Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode. The logical interface uses both NICs simultaneously for data
transfer. This configuration increases network bandwidth, and if one NIC fails, the other
continues operating normally. To use Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode, your switch must
support and be configured for 802.3ad.
CAUTION: Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode requires plugging both NICs into the same
switch. This bonding method does not protect against switch failure.
•
Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB). The logical interface balances data transmissions through both
NICs to enhance the functionality of the server and the network. Adaptive Load Balancing
automatically incorporates fault tolerance features as well.
Best practices
•
HP recommends bonding network interfaces for performance and failover. The best bond to
use depends on your network and SAN configuration.
•
Adaptive Load Balancing is the recommended bonding method, as it combines the benefits
of the increased transmission rates of 802.3ad with the network redundancy of Active-Passive.
Adaptive Load Balancing does not require additional switch configurations.
•
Verify and, if necessary, change the Speed, Duplex, Frame Size, and Flow Control settings
for both interfaces that you plan to bond.
•
Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode does not protect against switch failure, because both NICs
must be plugged into the same switch. Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode provides bandwidth
gains, because data is transferred over both NICs simultaneously. For Link Aggregation
Dynamic Mode, both NICs must be plugged into the same switch, and that switch must be
LACP-capable, and both support and be configured for 802.3ad aggregation.
•
For Active-Passive, plug the two NICs on the storage system into separate switches. While
Link Aggregation Dynamic Mode will only survive a port failure, Active-Passive will survive a
switch failure.
Bonding with 10 GbE interfaces
In storage systems with both 1 GbE and 10 GbE interfaces, users see four Ethernet interfaces
(P4000 G2 and HP StoreVirtual 4630 platforms) or six Ethernet interfaces (HP StoreVirtual 4330,
HP StoreVirtual 4530, and HP StoreVirtual 4730 platforms) listed in the storage system Network
Configuring network interface bonds 53