The network interface failover new command creates a failover rule for a virtual interface. A failover rule consists of the following components:
A node to which the virtual interface can move in the event of a failure.
A port or port aggregate on the specified node to which the virtual interface can move in the event of a failure.
A priority in the list of failover rules for the virtual interface. Priorities are expressed as positive integers, with 1 being the highest priority.
Failover rules apply only when a virtual interface's failover policy is set to failover. See “Creating a Virtual Interface” for information about setting a virtual interface's failover policy.
By definition, a virtual interface's priority-1 failover rule is to its home port and node.
The following scenario assumes that a virtual interface's failover policy is set to failover. If the port on which the virtual interface is located fails, the virtual interface attempts to move to the failover port with the highest priority in its list. If that port is inactive, it attempts to move to the port with the second-highest priority, and so on.
When the virtual interface's home port is active again, you can return the virtual interface to it by using the network interface revert command; see “Reverting a Virtual Interface to Its Home Port” for details.
The following example creates a failover rule for a virtual interface named dataif2 on a node named node1a. The failover rule is to port e3a on node node1b and has priority 3.
node::>network interface failover new -server node1a -vif dataif2 -priority 3 -node node1b -port e3a