Replacing a Failed Physical Interface on Systems That Support Dynamic Reconfiguration

This section contains procedures that relate to administering systems that support dynamic reconfiguration (DR).

Note - The tasks pertain only to IP layers that are configured by using the ifconfig command. Layers before or after the IP layer, such as ATM or other services, require specific manual steps if the layers are not automated. The steps in the next procedures are used to unconfigure interfaces during predetachment and configure interface after postattachment.

How to Remove a Physical Interface That Has Failed (DR-Detach)

This procedure shows how to remove a physical interface on a system that supports DR. The procedure assumes that the following conditions already exist:

Physical interfaces hme0 and hme1 are the example interfaces.
Both interfaces are in the same IPMP group.
hme0 has failed.
Logical interface hme0:1 has the test address.
You are replacing the failed interface with the same physical interface name, for example, hme0 with hme0.

Note - You can skip Step 2 if the test address is plumbed by using the /etc/hostname.hme0 file.

On the system with the IPMP group configuration, assume the Primary Administrator role or become superuser.
The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Display the test address configuration.

# ifconfig hme0:1

hme0:1:
flags=9040842<BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,DEPRECATED,IPv4,NOFAILOVER>
mtu 1500 index 3
inet 192.168.233.250 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.233.255

You need this information to replumb the test address when replacing the physical interface.

Remove the physical interface.
Refer to the following sources for a complete description of how to remove the physical interface:
- cfgadm(1M) man page
- Sun Enterprise 6x00, 5x00, 4x00, and 3x00 Systems Dynamic Reconfiguration User's Guide
- Sun Enterprise 10000 DR Configuration Guide

How to Replace a Physical Interface That Has Failed (DR-Attach)

This procedure shows how to replace a physical interface on a system that supports DR.

On the system with the IPMP group configuration, assume the Primary Administrator role or become superuser.
The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.
Replace the physical interface.
Refer to the instructions in the following sources:
- cfgadm(1M) man page
- Sun Enterprise 6x00, 5x00, 4x00, and 3x00 Systems Dynamic Reconfiguration User's Guide
- Sun Enterprise 10000 DR Configuration Guide, or Sun Fire 880 Dynamic Reconfiguration User's Guide
Plumb and bring up the test address.
```
# ifconfig hme0 test-address-configuration
```
Use the same test address configuration that was configured in the /etc/hostname.hme0 file. The test configuration is the same configuration that is displayed in Step 2 in the procedure How to Remove a Physical Interface That Has Failed (DR-Detach).
This configuration triggers the in.mpathd daemon to resume probing. As a result of this probing, in.mpathd detects the repair. Consequently, in.mpathd causes the original IP address to fail back from hme1.
See Test Addresses for more details about test addresses.

Note - The failback of IP addresses during the recovery of a failed physical interface takes up to three minutes. This time might vary, depending on network traffic. The time also depends on the stability of the incoming interface to fail back the failed-over interfaces by the in.mpathd daemon.