Cabletron Systems 6H122-16 manual SmartTrunk, Runtime IP Address Discovery

Overview

1.3.7SmartTrunk

SmartTrunk, also referred to as SmartTrunking, is Cabletron Systems’ terminology for load balancing or load sharing. SmartTrunk technology provides an easy-to-implement mechanism to group, or aggregate, multiple physical links together to scale the backbone bandwidth beyond the limitations of a single link. All links are user-configurable so administrators can scale the backbone bandwidth by adding SmartTrunk links. The SmartTrunk benefits are as follows:

•All purchased bandwidth is used.

•Distributed, resilient links increase reliability and performance.

•Multiple technologies are supported within a single trunk for maximum flexibility.

For more information about SmartTrunk, refer to the Cabletron Systems SmartTrunk User’s Guide.

1.3.8Runtime IP Address Discovery

This feature enables the modules to automatically accept an IP address from a BootP server on the network into NVRAM without requiring a user to enter an IP address through Local Management.

When the modules are connected to the network and powered up, Runtime IP Address Discovery (RAD) checks the modules for an IP address. If one has not yet been assigned (module and 6C105 chassis IP address set to 0.0.0.0), RAD checks to see if any of the module interfaces have a link. If so, RAD sends out Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) and BootP requests to obtain an IP address from a RARP or BootP server on the network.

The RAD requests start out at an interval of one second. The interval then doubles after every transmission until an interval of 300 seconds is reached. At this point, the interval remains at 300 seconds. The RAD requests continue until an IP address is received from a RARP or BootP server, or an IP address is entered using Local Management.

6H122-16 User’s Guide 1-5