TCP/IP Failsafe - network switch settings

[A.W.R]

Hi,

We have an HP Integrity Server with OpenVMS and TCP/IP. We are trying to use the TCP/IP failsafe functionality. We have found that when the primary inteface fails it does not seem to failover, but rather the whole system hangs. Are there any parameters/standards that the network switch must support to allow for the OpenVMS Failsafe to work?

Thanks
Andrew

[Steven Schweda]

I know nothing, but if I knew anything, then
I might be at least slightly interested in
how you configured this stuff.

For a start:

TCPIP SHOW VERSION

After that, there are probably some other
SHOW things which would reveal some other
vital data.

[Volker Halle]

Andrew,

assuming you've read the TCPIP documentation and configured TCPIP failSAFE IP according to the documentation, it should work.

What did you try to test it ?

Please check the TCPIP messages in OPERATOR.LOG, failSAFE IP displays a lot of useful information via this mechanism.

TCPIP SHOW SERVICE should show the FAILSAFE service to be enabled.

$ IFCONFIG -a should show the relevant interfaces, their addresses and their state.

Volker.

[Hoff]

Please load the current ECO kits for OpenVMS and for the IP stack, since it is likely (as implied by the lack of version information included in the question) the server is down-revision on the OpenVMS and IP stack patches.

This sort of error report is common in environments with managed switches. Please have a conversation with your networking staff here as well, as switches can commonly be configured to Not Like hosts that change IP addresses, and can end up with the host locked out, or on the wrong VLAN, or other such details.

[Andy Bustamante]

>>>but rather the whole system hangs

Does this mean the console is no longer responding or that the address you've designated fail over is no longer responding?

Are the interfaces configured and the fail over service started? See tcpip$config.com

Review http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v2/articles/tcpip.html by Matt Muggeridge for configuration tips. Do the interfaces have a dedicated address as well as the fail over address configured? Is the the dedicated address working?