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Configuring LIFs (cluster administrators only)

A LIF represents a network access point to a node in the cluster. You can configure LIFs on ports over which the cluster sends and receives communications over the network.

A cluster administrator can create, view, modify, migrate, or delete LIFs. An SVM administrator can only view the LIFs associated with the SVM.

  • 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.
  • LIF roles in ONTAP 9.5 and earlier
    LIFs with different roles have different characteristics. A LIF role determines the kind of traffic that is supported over the interface, along with the failover rules that apply, the firewall restrictions that are in place, the security, the load balancing, and the routing behavior for each LIF. A LIF can have any one of the five roles: node management, cluster management, cluster, intercluster, and data.
  • LIFs and service policies in ONTAP 9.6 and later
    Starting with ONTAP 9.6, you can assign service policies (instead of LIF roles) to LIFs that determine the kind of traffic that is supported for the LIFs. Service policies define a collection of network services supported by a LIF. ONTAP provides a set of built-in service policies that can be associated with a LIF.
  • Configuring LIF service policies
    Starting with ONTAP 9.5, you can configure LIF service policies to identify a single service or a list of services that will use a LIF.
  • Creating a LIF
    A LIF is an IP address associated with a physical or logical port. If there is a component failure, a LIF can fail over to or be migrated to a different physical port, thereby continuing to communicate with the network.
  • Modifying a LIF
    You can modify a LIF by changing the attributes, such as home node or current node, administrative status, IP address, netmask, failover policy, firewall policy, and service policy. You can also change the address family of a LIF from IPv4 to IPv6.
  • Migrating a LIF
    You might have to migrate a LIF to a different port on the same node or a different node within the cluster, if the port is either faulty or requires maintenance. Migrating a LIF is similar to LIF failover, but LIF migration is a manual operation, while LIF failover is the automatic migration of a LIF in response to a link failure on the LIF's current network port.
  • Reverting a LIF to its home port
    You can revert a LIF to its home port after it fails over or is migrated to a different port either manually or automatically. If the home port of a particular LIF is unavailable, the LIF remains at its current port and is not reverted.
  • Recovering from an incorrectly configured cluster LIF
    Starting with ONTAP 9.8, a cluster cannot be created when the cluster network is cabled to a switch but not all of the ports can reach the other ports.
  • Deleting a LIF
    You can delete an LIF that is no longer required.
  • Configuring virtual IP (VIP) LIFs
    Some next-generation data centers use Network Layer 3 mechanisms that require LIFs to be failed over across subnets. Starting with ONTAP 9.5, VIP data LIFs and the associated routing protocol, border gateway protocol (BGP), are supported, which enable ONTAP to participate in these next-generation networks.