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Creating network interfaces

You can use Storage Manager to create a network interface or LIF to access data from storage virtual machines (SVMs), to manage SVMs and to provide an interface for intercluster connectivity.

Before you begin

The broadcast domain that is associated with the subnet must have allocated ports.

About this task

  • Dynamic DNS (DDNS) is enabled by default when a LIF is created.

    However, DDNS is disabled if you configure the LIF for intercluster communication using iSCSI, NVMe, or FC/FCoE protocols, or for management access only.

  • You cannot use Storage Manager to create a network interface if the ports are degraded.

    You must use the command-line interface (CLI) to create a network interface in such cases.

  • To create NVMeoF data LIF the SVM must already be set up, the NVMe service must already exist on the SVM and the NVMeoF capable adapters should be available.

  • NVMe protocol is enabled only if the selected SVM has the NVMe service configured.

  1. Click Network.
  2. Click Network Interfaces and then click the + sign.
  3. In the Create Network Interface dialog box, specify an interface name.
  4. Specify an interface role:
    If you want to...Then...
    Associate the network interface with a data LIF

    1. Select Serves Data.

    2. Select the SVM for the network interface.

    Associate the network interface with an intercluster LIF

    1. Select Intercluster Connectivity.

    2. Select the IPspace for the network interface.

    Associate the network interface with Storage VM management

    1. Select Storage VM Management.

    2. Select the port and IP address for the network interface.

  5. Select the appropriate protocols.

    The interface uses the selected protocols to access data from the SVM.
    Note
    If you select the NVMe protocol, the rest of the protocols are disabled. If NAS (CIFS and NFS) protocols are supported then they remain available. The NVMe transports field is displayed when you select the NVMe protocol and FC-NVMe is shown as the transport protocol.
  6. Assign the IP address:
    If you want to...Then...
    Specify the IP address manually without using a subnet

    1. Select Without a subnet.

    2. In the Add Details dialog box, perform the following steps:

      1. Specify the IP address and the network mask or prefix.

      2. Optional: Specify the gateway.

      3. If you do not want to use the default value for the Destination field, specify a new destination value.

        If you do not specify a destination value, the Destination field is populated with the default value based on the family of the IP address.

      If a route does not exist, a new route is automatically created based on the gateway and destination.

    3. Click OK.

  7. Specify the IP address or port.

    • For iSCSI, you will need to specify an IP address to use.

    • For FC, you will need to specify the port to use.

    • For data LIFs, the Port details area displays all of the ports from the broadcast domain that is associated with the IPspace of the SVM.

    • For intercluster LIFs, the Port details area displays all of the ports from the broadcast domain that is associated with the required IPspace.

    • The Port details area will display only NVMe capable adapters if the NVMe protocol is selected.

  8. Click Save.