IBM 86624RY Maintenance Manual - Page 48

How you test the Ethernet controller or adapter depends on which operating system is being used (see "Configuring the ethernet controller" on page 35). Failover for redundant Ethernet The Netfinity 5500 M20 has an integrated Ethernet controller. The IBM Netfinity 10/100 Fault Tolerant Adapter is an optional redundant network interface card (NIC adapter) that you can install in the server. If you install this NIC adapter and connect it to the same logical segment as the primary Ethernet controller, you can configure the server to support a failover function. You can configure either the integrated Ethernet controller or the NIC adapter as the primary Ethernet controller. In failover mode, if the primary Ethernet controller detects a link failure, all Ethernet traffic associated with it is switched to the redundant (secondary) controller. This switching occurs without any user intervention. Applications with active sessions do not experience any data loss. When the primary link is restored to an operational state, the Ethernet traffic automatically switches back to the primary Ethernet controller. Note that only one controller in the redundant pair is active at any given time. For example, if the primary Ethernet controller is active, then the secondary Ethernet controller cannot be used for any other network operation. Note The operating system determines the maximum number of IBM Netfinity 10/100 Fault Tolerant Adapters that you can install in the server. See the documentation that comes with the adapter for more information. Special considerations when combining failover and hot-plug functions: If the operating system supports hot-plug PCI adapters and the optional redundant NIC adapter is installed in a hot-plug PCI slot, you can replace the NIC adapter without powering off the server - even if it is the primary Ethernet controller. Disconnecting the Ethernet cable from the primary Ethernet controller will cause the Ethernet traffic to be automatically switched to the secondary Ethernet controller. This can be very useful when a network problem is caused by faulty adapter hardware or when you want to upgrade the primary adapter hardware. 40 Netfinity Server HMM