How To

Configure Probe
Based IPMP in
Solaris 11
Prepared By
F. Mohaideen Abdul Kader

Document Type: How To

WIPRO LIMITED

Configuring Probe Based IPMP in Solaris 11

Solaris 11 uses 2 methods for probe-based failure detection
1. Using test addreses (default method)
2. Transitive Probing No test addresses are used
To enable transitive probing:
# svccfg -s svc:/network/ipmp setprop config/transitive-probing=true
# svcadm refresh svc:/network/ipmp:default
To disable transitive probing:
# svccfg -s svc:/network/ipmp setprop config/transitive-probing=false
# svcadm refresh svc:/network/ipmp:default
To check the Probing method:
# ipmpstat p

Active/Active Configuration Example (using test addresses)

The configuration details for the active/active IPMP configuration is as below :
IPMP group name
Active interface

:
:

ipmp0
e1000g1 (net1)
e1000g2 (net2)

Data IP address
Test IP address

:
:

192.168.1.10
192.168.1.11 and 192.168.1.12

Firstly create the IPMP group ipmp0:

# ipadm create-ipmp ipmp0
Create the 2 interfaces to be added to the IPMP group:
# ipadm create-ip net1
# ipadm create-ip net2
Add the 2 interfaces we just created to the IPMP group.
# ipadm add-ipmp -i net1 -i net2 ipmp0
Assign the test and data addresses to the respective interfaces:

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.10 ipmp0/data1

# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.11 net1/test1
# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.12 net2/test2
To check the status of the IPMP group:
# ipmpstat -g
GROUP
GROUPNAME STATE FDT
INTERFACES
ipmp0
ipmp0
ok
10.00s net2 net1
To check the Data address and interfaces in the IPMP group:
# ipmpstat -an
ADDRESS
192.168.1.10

STATE GROUP
INBOUND OUTBOUND
up ipmp0
net1
net2 net1

To check the individual interfaces status in the

# ipmpstat -i
INTERFACE ACTIVE GROUP
FLAGS LINK PROBE
net2
yes ipmp0
------- up
ok
ok
net1
yes ipmp0
--mb--- up
ok
ok

STATE

m -> the interface is used to send and receive multicast traffic in the IPMP group
b -> the interface is used to send and receive broadcast traffic in the IPMP group
# ipmpstat -tn
INTERFACE MODE
TESTADDR
net2
multicast 192.168.1.12
net1
multicast 192.168.1.11

TARGETS
192.168.1.101
192.168.1.101

If you observe the 2nd column above, it shows the mode to identify the probe targets in case of a
probe based IPMP configuration. Different modes of failure detection are:
routes system routing table is used to find probe targets.
multicast multicast ICMP probes are used to find targets.
disabled probe based failure detection has been disabled.
transitive transitive probing is used to for failure detection.
And finally verify the configuration in the ifconfig command output.
# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849 mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
net1: flags=9040843 mtu 1500 index 7
inet 192.168.1.11 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0

ether 0:c:29:12:40:79
net2: flags=9040843 mtu 1500 index 8
inet 192.168.1.12 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0
ether 0:c:29:12:40:83
ipmp0: flags=8001000843 mtu 1500 index 6
inet 192.168.1.10 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0

Active/Standby Configuration Example (using test addresses)

In the active/standby probe-based IPMP configuration, we will set net2 as the standby interface. The
configuration details for the active/standby IPMP configuration is as below:
IPMP group name
Active interface
Standby interface

: ipmp0
: e1000g1 (net1)
: e1000g2 (net2)

Data IP address
Test IP address

: 192.168.1.10
: 192.168.1.11 and 192.168.1.12

Create the 2 interfaces to be added to the IPMP group:

# ipadm create-ipmp ipmp0
Add the 2 interfaces we just created to the IPMP group.
# ipadm create-ip net1
# ipadm create-ip net2
# ipadm add-ipmp -i net1 -i net2 ipmp0
# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.10 ipmp0/data1
# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.11 net1/test1
# ipadm create-addr -T static -a 192.168.1.12 net2/test2
Assign the test and data addresses to the respective interfaces:
# ipadm set-ifprop -p standby=on -m ip net2
To check the status of the IPMP group (observe the net2 interface in ()) :
# ipmpstat -g
GROUP
GROUPNAME STATE FDT
INTERFACES
ipmp0
ipmp0
ok
10.00s net1 (net2)
To check the IP address of the IPMP interface (observe that we have only net1 as the outbound
interface, contrast to the active/active configuration):

# ipmpstat -an
ADDRESS
192.168.1.10

STATE GROUP
INBOUND OUTBOUND
up ipmp0
net1
net1

To check the status of the individual interfaces:

# ipmpstat -i
INTERFACE ACTIVE GROUP
FLAGS LINK PROBE
net2
no ipmp0
is----- up
ok
ok
net1
yes ipmp0
--mb--- up
ok
ok

STATE

To check the final configuration:

# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=2001000849 mtu 8232 index 1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
net1: flags=9040843 mtu 1500 index 10
inet 192.168.1.11 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0
ether 0:c:29:12:40:79
net2: flags=69040843 mtu 1500 index 11
inet 192.168.1.12 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0
ether 0:c:29:12:40:83
ipmp0: flags=8001000843 mtu 1500 index 9
inet 192.168.1.10 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
groupname ipmp0