IBM 866441Y - Netfinity 5600 - 8664, Hardware Maintenance Manual

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primary Ethernet controller. The switch back to the
primary Ethernet controller can be automatic or manually
controlled depending on the setup and operating system.
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.
Note
If the primary adapter is hot-replaced while the
Ethernet traffic is being handled by the secondary
Ethernet controller, the traffic does not automatically
switch back to the primary adapter when the primary
adapter comes back online. See “Configuring for
failover.”
Configuring for failover:
The failover feature
currently is supported by OS/2

, Windows NT Server, and
IntraNetWare. The setup required for each operating
system follows.
OS/2
Note
The OS/2 operating system does not support hot-plug
operations.
1. Add the redundant NIC adapter according to the
instructions provided with the adapter and in “Working
with adapters” on page 107.
2. Use the ServerGuide CDs to install the AMD PCNet
Ethernet Family adapter device driver. (Refer to the
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Netfinity Server HMM