Active MultiPath Protocol

BLADEOS 6.3 Application Guide

Active MultiPath Protocol (AMP) allows you to connect three switches in a loop topology, and load-balance traffic across all uplinks (no blocking). When an AMP link fails, upstream communication continues over the remaining AMP link. Once the failed AMP link re-establishes connectivity, communication resumes to its original flow pattern.

Each AMP group contains two aggregator switches and one access switch. Aggregator switches support up to 22 AMP groups. Each access switch supports only one AMP group.

The GbESM can be used as an AMP access switch only.

Layer 3 routing protocols are not supported on AMP-configured switches.

Use the following command to access the AMP configuration menu:

>># /cfg/l2/amp

Port Trunk Hashing Enhancements

Network traffic is statistically distributed among the ports in a trunk group using an enhanced hash process. To improve traffic distribution, more bits from more frame attributes are used in the hash. The GbESM now supports the following hashing options, which can used in any combination:

Frame IP and MAC address information (specify one of the following—required):

Source IP address

Destination IP address

Source and destination IP address (the default)

Source MAC address

Destination MAC address

Source and destination MAC address

Ingress port number (disabled by default)

Layer 4 (TCP, UDP, etc.) port information (disabled by default)

Trunk hashing options can be configured using the following command path:

>># /cfg/l2/thash

18	BMD00178, April 2010