What LIFs are

A LIF (logical interface) is an IP address or WWPN with associated characteristics, such as a role or a service policy, a home port, a home node, a list of ports to fail over to, and a firewall policy. You can configure LIFs on ports over which the cluster sends and receives communications over the network.

LIFs can be hosted on the following ports:

• Physical ports that are not part of interface groups

• Interface groups

• VLANs

• Physical ports or interface groups that host VLANs

• Virtual IP (VIP) ports

  Starting with ONTAP 9.5, VIP LIFs are supported and are hosted on VIP ports.

While configuring SAN protocols such as FC on a LIF, it will be associated with a WWPN.

SAN Administration Guide

The following figure illustrates the port hierarchy in an ONTAP system: