Question & Answer
Question
This document describes the Ethernet connectivity of the nodes in a SAN Volume Controller cluster.
Answer
All models of SVC nodes support 1000Mb/full-duplex Ethernet connectivity and automatically negotiate the maximum supported port speed and duplex setting for the Ethernet link. The Ethernet ports to which the nodes are connected to should therefore also be set to auto-negotiate for the negotiation process to obtain the best possible setting.
SVC releases prior to V4.2.0.0
During normal operation, only the configuration node in the cluster will have an active Ethernet network connection. Non-configuration nodes in the cluster will independently poll their Ethernet link to check for a working connection approximately every minute.
This link polling behaviour may be seen on an Ethernet switch as a pattern of link up/down events occurring at regular intervals and may trigger port alerts on some types of managed Ethernet switches.
This behaviour is expected and does not indicate an Ethernet link failure.
If the threshold values for these types of alerts are not user-configurable then you could consider disabling external monitoring of the ports connected to SVC nodes, since the SAN Volume Controller cluster will itself report an error if a link failure is detected on any online node in the cluster.
SVC V4.2.0.0 and later
From V4.2.0.0 onwards, all nodes in a cluster will keep their Ethernet link up, though only the configuration node in the cluster will have an IP address assigned. Non-configuration nodes will have a non-routable IP address assigned (e.g. 0.0.0.0).
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Modified date:
17 June 2018
UID
ssg1S1002897