HP APA (auto port aggregation)

HP-UX has no built in lan aggregation or failover; I know - it's a damn shame.  (note: serviceguard does have a local lan failover mode)  HP APA (Auto Port Aggregation).

Be sure to do the configuration from a console connection or connect from a NIC that won't be involved in APA, otherwise you'll drop and may not be able reconnect over tha lan if you screw up the config.

commands to configure it:
lanqueryconf
lanapplyconf
lancheckconf
landeleteconf

Here's my quick and dirty version of creating a lan failover group:

--- APA configuration --
added the following line to /etc/rc.config.d/hp_apaconf
HP_APA_USE_SYSLOG=1

add the following to: /etc/rc.config.d/hp_apaportconf
HP_APAPORT_INTERFACE_NAME[0]=lan5
HP_APAPORT_CONFIG_MODE[0]=LAN_MONITOR

HP_APAPORT_INTERFACE_NAME[1]=lan6
HP_APAPORT_CONFIG_MODE[1]=LAN_MONITOR


 /sbin/init.d/hplm stop
 /sbin/init.d/hpapa stop
 /sbin/init.d/hpapa start
 /sbin/init.d/hplm start

create ascii file:
lanqueryconf -s

change priority of both primary and secondary to the same value, so that failback doesn't occur.
vi /etc/lanmon/lanconfig.ascii

check validity of ascii file:
lancheckconf

apply the changes to the binary file:
lanapplyconf

check config:
lanscan and lanscan -q and lanadmin -x -v PPA  and netstat -in



Once it's configured, here are some useful commands for looking at the status:
real status of ports:  lanadmin -x -i 900 
load balancing mode:   lanadmin -x -l 900
verbose config:        lanadmin -x -v 900

Where 900 is the PPA number for the apa/failover group