IBM System z10 EC Reference Manual

Also see for System z10 EC: Reference guide

Contents

25OSA/SF Virtual MAC and VLAN id Display CapabilityThe Open Systems Adapter/Support Facility (OSA/SF) hasthe capability to support virtual Medium Access Control(MAC) and Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifica-tions (IDs) associated with OSA-Express2 feature config-ured as a Layer 2 interface. This information will now bedisplayed as a part of an OSA Address Table (OAT) entry.This information is independent of IPv4 and IPv6 formats.There can be multiple Layer 2 VLAN Ids associated to asingle unit address. One group MAC can be associated tomultiple unit addresses.For additional information, view IBM Redbooks, IBMSystem z Connectivity Handbook (SG24-5444) at:www.redbooks.ibm.com/.The HiperSockets function, also known as internal QueuedDirect Input/Output (iDQIO) or internal QDIO, is an inte-grated function of the z10 EC server that provides userswith attachments to up to sixteen high-speed “virtual”Local Area Networks (LANs) with minimal system andnetwork overhead. HiperSockets eliminates the need toutilize I/O subsystem operations and the need to traversean external network connection to communicate betweenlogical partitions in the same z10 EC server.Now, the HiperSockets internal networks on z10 EC cansupport two transport modes: Layer 2 (Link Layer) as wellas the current Layer 3 (Network or IP Layer). Traffic canbe Internet Protocol (IP) version 4 or version 6 (IPv4, IPv6)or non-IP (AppleTalk, DECnet, IPX, NetBIOS, or SNA).HiperSockets devices are now protocol-independent andLayer 3 independent. Each HiperSockets device has itsown Layer 2 Media Access Control (MAC) address, whichis designed to allow the use of applications that dependon the existence of Layer 2 addresses such as DHCPservers and firewalls.Layer 2 support can help facilitate server consolidation.Complexity can be reduced, network configuration issimplified and intuitive, and LAN administrators can con-figure and maintain the mainframe environment the sameas they do a non-mainframe environment. With supportof the new Layer 2 interface by HiperSockets, packetforwarding decisions are now based upon Layer 2 infor-mation, instead of Layer 3 information. The HiperSocketsdevice performs automatic MAC address generation andassignment to allow uniqueness within and across logicalpartitions (LPs) and servers. MAC addresses can also belocally administered. The use of Group MAC addressesfor multicast is supported as well as broadcasts to allother Layer 2 devices on the same HiperSockets network.HiperSockets