User Guide
APconnections, Inc. // 303.997.1300 // www.netequalizer.com
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Copyright © 2014, 2015 APconnections, Inc.
rev. 20150309
#2) Use Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) on your NetEqualizers
NetEqualizer takes advantage of a mature feature already built into the Linux operating
system called
Spanning Tree Protocol
(STP). Two NetEqualizers placed in parallel can be
configured for a master/slave relationship where one server will back the other.
Using your NetEqualizers for redundancy involves running
Spanning Tree Protocol
(STP) on
each. First, setup each NetEqualizer so they have their own (and different) management
IPs. For example, the NetEqualizer comes with 192.168.1.143 as the default, so setup the
second NetEqualizer with 192.168.1.144. Same netmask and gateway for this example.
Second, on each of the NetEqualizers, from the Maintenance and Reference
Menu,
Click on ->
Maintenance
->
Edit Autostart File -
>
[
Edit
]
.
Type in the following two lines at the bottom of the file:
/sbin/brctl stp br0 on
/sbin/brctl stp my on
Finally, for STP to take effect, reboot each of the NetEqualizer's. From the
Maintenance and Reference Menu,
Click on ->
Maintenance
->
[
Reboot
NetEqualizer
]
.
Note: Under this scenario, STP is enabled on the NetEqualizers and NOT on your Switches or
Firewalls.
Failover
If you do not need full redundancy, but would like a failover solution to ensure that your
network continues to pass traffic if your NetEqualizer goes down, you can configure a STP-
capable switch to bypass the NetEqualizer. You can use your own switch or try our
third-
party programmable bypass switch
, which can be used where other devices are using STP
without conflicting with them.
Note: In the case of the NetEqualizer going down, this solution does not maintain traffic
shaping on your network.
