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Sun Trunking Software
FAQs for Sun Trunking 1.3 SoftwareGet answers to the questions most frequently asked about Sun Trunking Software. General QuestionsQ: What is trunking?
A:
Trunking is the aggregation of multiple Ethernet links into a single virtual link for higher performance and resiliency.
Q: What is Sun Trunking Software 1.3?
A:
Sun Trunking 1.3 enables aggregation of multiple Gigabit Ethernet, Quad FastEthernet or FastEthernet links into a
single virtual link (trunk). When aggregated, these point-to-point links act as a pipe to provide increased
bandwidth & high availability allowing higher aggregated data rates than any individual link.
Q: What features does Sun Trunking 1.3 include?
A:
Q: What cards are supported by Sun Trunking?
A:
Sun Trunking[tm] 1.3 replaces and extends the functionality in
version 1.2.1 by providing support for the following products.
Q: What is the maximum number of links that can be aggregated per server?
A:
Depending on the driver, the following is the maximum number of links that can be aggregated.
Q: Can the Gigabit Ethernet and FastEthernet ports from different products be mixed for linking?
A:
Please see the Sun Trunking Matrix.
Q: Are the following protocols supported for communication with switches: IEEE 802.1Q and IEEE 802.3ad?
A:
Sun Trunking 1.3 is fully 802.3ad compliant.
Note: Sun Trunking 1.3 is compatible with Cisco EtherChannel and 802.3ad in static mode. Q: Can Sun Trunking 1.3 co-exist with Sun Trunking 1.2.1?
A:
No. Sun Trunking 1.3 replaces Sun Trunking 1.2.1.
Q: Is trunking license 'per card' or 'per system'?
A:
The licensing model for Sun Trunking 1.3 is on a per system/server basis for Solaris 8 and 9. Sun Trunking is free for Solaris 10 (x86 and SPARC) and is downloadable from sun.com/download.
Q: Can virtual interfaces be used on trunking interfaces?
A:
Yes. The interface behaves as a single DLPI provider, and virtual
interfaces can be configured just like those on a non-trunked
interface.
Q: Is Sun Trunking 1.3 supported with Sun Cluster?
A:
Sun Trunking[tm] 1.3 is not qualified and not supported with Sun Cluster.
Q: What would be the target market for Sun Trunking?
A:
Sun Trunking[tm] 1.3 software is a logical solution for
customers looking to add bandwidth and high availability
to systems using Sun GigabitEthernet or Sun Quad FastEthernet
Adapters on a single, logical port on the existing cable.
operating between 2 Sun servers or between a Sun server
and a trunking-capable switch.
Q: What is the market value proposition of Sun Trunking?
A:
As the number of users and applications on a network increases, companies face a critical problem of insufficient
network capacity. Sun Trunking[tm] 1.3 software provides bandwidth-enhancing technology that delivers the power
demanded by complex technical and commercial applications, and yet preserves investments in network technology. It allows customers to leverage their existing infrastructure,
adds bandwidth and provides high availability at low cost.
Q: Can an interface that is already plumbed be trunked?
A:
No, you need to re-configure before adding to the trunk.
Q: Does Dynamic reconfiguration work with Sun Trunking?
A:
Yes.
Q: Does IPMP work with Sun Trunking?
A:
IP Multipathing (IPMP) works transparently with Sun Trunking 1.3. For example, two trunk-heads can be configured/grouped into one IPMP group.
Q: Can VLANs be configured with Sun Trunking 1.3?
A:
Yes. Please see Sun Trunking 1.3 install guide (part #817-3374-10) & release notes (part #817-3375-10) for more information.
Q: What kind of configurations does Sun Trunking work on?
A:
Sun Trunking supports link aggregation in server-to-switch & server-to-server configurations. For more information, click here.
Q: What is the maximum aggregated bandwidth?
A:
For a single trunk with 4 cards:
TX & RX each reach ~2.2-2.3Gbps for software-only LB mode;
For the no-LB mode, TX reaches 1.9-2.0Gbps & RX 2.2Gbps.
Q: Are latency estimates available for Sun Trunking?
A:
The latency for Sun Trunking 1.3 is about 10% longer than currently available Gigabit Ethernet adapters; however it
is about the same in no-LB mode.
Q: Does Sun Trunking work across different switches on the same VLAN?
A:
The IEEE 802.3ad standards prevent connecting NICs on server side
(trunked) to different switches (even if they belong to same VLAN).
Since individual trunked members have the same aggregation macaddress,
connecting them to different switches could disable one of the ports.
Trunked interface(NICS) across different switches are not recommended.
Q: When is Trunking applicable and when is IPMP preferred?
A:
Trunking: Layer II
IPMP: Layer III Trunking is a link level industry standard that every switch vendor must implement. Trunking has automatic inbound load-balancing, as provided by the switch, whereas IPMP receives on a single link unless you create multiple logical IP addresses to force load balancing to happen. On the other hand, IP MP provides failover across switches, so there is an additional layer of redundancy: works across various network adapters to ensure switch is not single point of failure. Q: Where can we obtain evaluation copies for Sun Trunking?
A:
Sun Trunking for Solaris 10(SPARC and x86) can be downloaded for free from sun.com/download. There are no evaluation copies for Sun Trunking for Solaris 8 & 9.
The software can be purchased for a nominal fee (995 USD).
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