Using 10G ports for Cluster IP.

[Ven]

Does the Cluster IP need a separate network port?   

When the Vendor Engineerset this up, he configured the Cluster IP  on a separate Gig-E port (e0L). 

But due to limited # of network ports on the switches, I've configured the Cluster IP on the same  LACP aggregated 10GbE ports used by the vserver data LIF.  Also the Cluster IP is on the same subnet as the Da

Here's my net int show.

 
                   Logical    Status     Network                     Current       Current Is
Vserver     Interface  Admin/Oper Address/Mask           Node          Port    Home
----------- ---------- ----------              ------------------     -------------        -------  ----
Cluster
            netapp1-01_clus1 up/up 169.254.213.48/16     netapp1-01     e0a true
            netapp1-01_clus2 up/up 169.254.252.241/16   netapp1-01     e0b true
            netapp1-01_clus3 up/up 169.254.19.64/16       netapp1-01     e0c true
            netapp1-01_clus4 up/up 169.254.179.61/16     netapp1-01     e0d true
            netapp1-02_clus1 up/up 169.254.188.244/16   netapp1-02     e0a true
            netapp1-02_clus2 up/up 169.254.209.44/16     netapp1-02     e0b true
            netapp1-02_clus3 up/up 169.254.227.147/16   netapp1-02     e0c true
            netapp1-02_clus4 up/up 169.254.131.146/16   netapp1-02     e0d true

netapp1
            cluster                      up/up 20.43.0.124/24      netapp1-01     a0a-2300 true
            netapp1-01_mgmt1 up/up 20.40.99.10/24       netapp1-01     e0M true
            netapp1-02_mgmt1 up/up 20.40.99.11/24       netapp1-02     e0M true

vserver1
            vs01_nfs_cifs_lif1 up/up 20.43.0.40/24         netapp1-01       a0a-2300 true

[Sahana]

A cluster LIF should not be on the same subnet as a management LIF or a data LIF.

The LIF that is used for intracluster traffic. Cluster LIFs can be configured only on cluster ports. Cluster LIFs must always be created on 10-GbE network ports. Note: Cluster LIFs need not be created on 10-GbE network ports in FAS2040 and FAS2220 platforms.

Refer Clustered Data ONTAP® 8.2 Network Management Guide

[Darkstar · Accepted solution]

True, but you failed to notice that the OP was talking about the cluster management LIF (not apparent from the text but clear once you take a loko at his "net int show" output) 😉 YES, the cluster management LIF can definitely share a port with the "regular" data LIFs. This is a fully supported configuration -Michael

[aborzenkov]

Your question unfortunately sounds very confusing. "Cluster LIF" has very special meaning in cDOT - as already explained it refers to backend interconnect between cluster nodes and it must be on dedicated physical ports that cannot be shared with any other traffic type. But what you actually mean is likely "cluster management LIF". This can share port with any other data and management LIF of  any other SVM.

By default cluster management LIF is named cluster_mgmt. Plain "cluster" is rather poor choice as it is highly ambiguous, especially when used as adjective ("cluster IP", "cluster LIF"). On your place I would consider renaming it, e.g. to default cluster_mgmt that makes it obvious what you are speaking about.

And find some time to make yourself familiar with cDOT network organization and terminology 🙂