You may need to look at more than one solution here. Please check if you
can confirm that at LAN switch level the overall utilization of TSM port
is higher than 85% AND if multiple TSM clients have backup problems
because of 'network bottleneck' on TSM GigEth interface. Etherchannel
and load balancing could be implemented at LAN switch level or at AIX
host level or DNS server, but with different focuses. Before adding more
NIC here and there, take a step back and try to gether as much
information as possible. No one can do any better job than you do at
your environment. Cheer!


Gus


>>> NAVEEN.NR AT SBM.INTNET DOT MU 03/29/05 12:23 AM >>>
Hi,

I don't know whether you can "merge" your two network adapter cards and
associated ip into a logical channel called etherchannel might help you
out. I know AIX supports etherchannel.

Try smitty etherchannel to help you with the config.

All the best


-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU]On Behalf
Of
Justin Derrick
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 10:13 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: Using multiple Ethernet adapters on AIX TSM server?


Hi Kevin.

>I am currently using one GigE adapter on my TSM server, and I have so
>much traffic coming into it during the night that I need to add
another.
>The new adatper will have a different IP, but will be on the same
subnet
>as the first one.  I am not sure of the right / best way to configure
>it.

If you're maxing out your GigE connection, adding another line to it
may just push the bottleneck upstream to the switch -- you'll want to
work with your network folks to determine the best place to lay new
pipes.

>It's my understanding that provided this second adapter has its own
IP
>address, that I can specify that address in the dsm.opt file on
certain
>clients that I want to come in over that adapter.  Correct?

You've got the right idea.  Again, depending on your traffic patterns
(lots of small clients vs. a few huge clients) it might make sense to
associate more IP addresses with the host name on your DNS server,
and have DNS provide load balancing (by passing out IPs for the same
hostname in a round-robin fashion).  This is especially useful if
it's the GigE that's the bottleneck to the switch.  This is a good
general-purpose fix, but to truly optimize your connectivity, you
have to dig into your usage patterns to develop the best solution.
You'll want to remove the bottleneck, not just push it upstream.  =)

>>>From an AIX standpoint, do I set the default gateway for the new
adapter
>to be the same as the other one?  Or do I make the first adapter the
>default gateway for the second one?

Depends on how you set up subnets.  To specifically answer your
second question, NO. =)
  - If you add the second IP to the *same* subnet, then they have the
same gateway (possibly a bottleneck).
  - If you add the second IP to a *different* subnet, it may or may
not (but it SHOULD, really) have a different gateway associated with
it.

-JD.


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