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Configuring network ports (cluster administrators only)

Ports are either physical ports (NICs) or virtualized ports, such as interface groups or VLANs.

  • Types of network ports
    The network ports are either physical ports or virtualized ports. Virtual local area networks (VLANs) and interface groups constitute the virtual ports. Interface groups treat several physical ports as a single port, while VLANs subdivide a physical port into multiple separate logical ports.
  • Combining physical ports to create interface groups
    An interface group is created by combining two or more physical ports into a single logical port. The logical port provides increased resiliency, increased availability, and load sharing.
  • Configuring VLANs over physical ports
    VLANs provide logical segmentation of networks by creating separate broadcast domains that are defined on a switch port basis as opposed to the traditional broadcast domains, defined on physical boundaries. A VLAN can span multiple physical network segments. The end-stations belonging to a VLAN are related by function or application.
  • Modifying network port attributes
    You can modify the autonegotiation, duplex, flow control, speed, and health settings of a physical network port.
  • Modifying MTU setting for interface group ports
    To modify the MTU setting for interface groups, you must modify the MTU of the broadcast domain.
  • Monitoring the health of network ports
    ONTAP management of network ports includes automatic health monitoring and a set of health monitors to help you identify network ports that might not be suitable for hosting LIFs.
  • Converting 40GbE NIC ports into multiple 10GbE ports for 10GbE connectivity
    The 40GbE Network Interface Cards (NICs) can be converted to support four 10GbE ports. If you are connecting a hardware platform that supports one of these NICs to a cluster that supports 10GbE cluster interconnect and customer data connections, the NIC must be converted to provide the necessary 10GbE connections.
  • Removing a NIC from the node
    You might have to remove a faulty NIC from its slot or move the NIC to another slot for maintenance purposes.