Question & Answer
Question
How can I determine the configuration and status of my Shared Ethernet Adapters?
Cause
Update or reboot of the VIO server may cause some client partition's network to hang temporarily.
Answer
Some VIO servers may have multiple Shared Ethernet Adapters (SEAs). If one or more are in the PRIMARY state instead of the BACKUP state, the network communications for the SEA in PRIMARY state may be affected temporarily during a system update or reboot.
The state of the SEA can be easily determined with these steps:
1. Login to padmin
2. Change to root prompt:
$ oem_setup_env
3. List the adapters:
# lsdev -Cc adapter
4. Find the Shared Ethernet Adapters
ent24 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter
ent25 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter
ent26 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter
ent27 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter
5. Use the entstat command to list the components of the SEA:
# entstat -d ent24 |more
Note: For IBM internal; This information can be found in the ./tcpip/tcpip.snap
Note: For IBM internal; The command line searches are in "( )"
6. Use the search or "/" to look for the following parameters or search page by page with the space-bar. Searches from the command line are case sensitive.
...
| Statistics for adapters in the Shared Ethernet Adapter ent24 -------------------------------------------------------------- Number of adapters: 2 |
| VLAN Ids : (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i vlan) ent18: 174 |
| High Availability Statistics: (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i pvid) Control Channel PVID: 94 |
State: BACKUP (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i state)
...
| High Availability Mode: Auto (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i priority) Priority: 2 |
Real Adapter: ent12 (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i real)
...
| ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent12) : Device Type: EtherChannel |
| Statistics for every adapter in the EtherChannel: ------------------------------------------------- Number of adapters: 2 Operating mode: Standard mode |
| ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent4) : Device Type: 4-Port 10/100/1000 Base-TX PCI-X Adapter (14101103) |
| Link Status: Up (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i link) (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i media) Media Speed Selected: Auto negotiation Media Speed Running: 1000 Mbps Full Duplex |
| ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent8) : Device Type: 4-Port 10/100/1000 Base-TX PCI-X Adapter (14101103) |
| Link Status: Up (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i link) (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i media) Media Speed Selected: Auto negotiation Media Speed Running: 1000 Mbps Full Duplex |
| Virtual Adapter: ent18 ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent18) : Device Type: Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) |
| Trunk Adapter: True (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i trunk) Priority: 2 Active: False (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i priority) |
PVID: 174 VIDs: None (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i pvid)
Note: The defaultid value of the SEA should be the Port VLAN ID (PVID) of the default trunk adapter if there are more than one trunk adapters configured in the SEA.
...
| Control Adapter: ent22 ETHERNET STATISTICS (ent22) : Device Type: Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) |
Trunk Adapter: False (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i trunk)
...
PVID: 94 VIDs: None (# entstat -d ent24 |grep -i pvid)
...
7. Then repeat for the other SEAs.
8. If any of the SEAs are in PRIMARY state, it is recommended to failover to BACKUP state prior to performing any maintenance or reboot of the VIO server or the connectivity of the client partitions that are using the SEA in PRIMARY state may lose connectivity temporarily.
9. Set ha_mode to standby on primary VIOS with chdev command:
- # chdev -l entX -a ha_mode=standby
- or
- # chdev -l entX -a ha_mode=auto
- or
Related Information
Was this topic helpful?
Document Information
Modified date:
19 February 2022
UID
isg3T1011609