Auto port aggregation.

[Marc Dijkstra]

Hi all

Wonder if anybody could explain the "auto port aggregation" feature to me? I have been told that it can do load balancing over 2 network cards in an L-Class, is this true?

I thought that you could only do load balancing with MC ServiceGuard.

Comments appreciated.

MND

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Marc:

Yes, you can do load-balancing with APA. See "What is HP Auto Port Aggregation?" for a quick overview, here:

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/J4240-90016/J4240-90016.html

Regards!

...JRF...

[Helen French]

Hi Marc:

You are right. You could do the load balancing with APA. These document will be helpful to you:

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/J4240-90017/J4240-90017.html

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/J4240-90016/J4240-90016.html

HTH,
Shiju

[Bill Hassell]

Not only does APA do load balancing (ie, 2 LAN cards can look like a single IP address and work simulataneously), but you can use the configuration as a failsafe design, that is, if one link fails, the other will continue to work, although not as fast as both links together.

NOTE: APA *requires* switch support. That is, the switch where the APA ports are connected must understand that there will be multiple channels with the same IP address. The terms Link Aggreegation, LACP, FEC and 802.3ad should be prominent in the manufacturer's documentation.

[John Payne_2]

One note: Auto Port Aggregation only does load balancing for outbound traffic. To get the load balancing for inbound traffic, you need to look to you switch.

Hope it helps.

John