TCP/IP (Parallel Library) Configuration and Management Manual

HP NonStop TCP/IP (Parallel Library) Configuration and Management Manual—522271-006
2-1
2 Introduction
This section describes the purpose of Parallel Library TCP/IP, its architecture, benefits,
components, features, and relationship to other HP products, and gives some how-to
information such as locating the name of a socket access method (TCPSAM) and
configuring the subsystem for round-robin distribution of incoming connection requests.
Parallel Library TCP/IP is a new HP product that provides increased performance and
scalability. For comparison, the previous product, NonStop TCP/IP, is referred to in this
manual as conventional TCP/IP. The subsystem name for conventional TCP/IP is
TCPIP. The subsystem name for Parallel Library TCP/IP is PTCPIP.
Parallel Library TCP/IP coexists with conventional TCP/IP on NonStop S-series servers
(see Strategy for Coexistence with Conventional TCP/IP on page 4-7). Parallel Library
TCP/IP supports Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet adapters (E4SAs,
FESAs, GESAs and G4SAs) only (see the Ethernet Adapter Installation and Support
Guide, the Fast Ethernet Adapter Installation and Support Guide, the Gigabit Ethernet
Adapter Installation and Support Guide and the Gigabit Ethernet 4-Port Adapter
Installation and Support Guide for information on installing these adapters). Use
conventional TCP/IP for ATM, X.25 and token-ring support.
Section 4, Managing the Parallel Library TCP/IP Subsystem contains important
information about managing the system configuration database and coexistence with
conventional TCP/IP. Be sure to read that section as well as this one. In addition, read
the TCP/IP (Parallel Library) Migration Guide for migration considerations and a
summary of the differences between conventional TCP/IP and Parallel Library TCP/IP.
Background
In the following discussions, the terms “physical port” and “PIF” are used extensively
and interchangeably. A PIF is part of the ServerNet LAN Systems Access (SLSA)
subsystem and represents the physical port on the adapter. When you configure
Parallel Library TCP/IP, you actually use the “LIF,” which is another SLSA object that
represents the logical interface to the port. The LIF is associated with the PIF which, in
turn, represents the physical port. In Parallel Library TCP/IP as in conventional TCP/IP,
you configure a SUBNET and assign it an IP address and the name of a LIF. In this
discussion, the SUBNET is configured with an IP address and LIF which the SLSA
subsystem then associates to the PIF/physical port.
The architecture introduced by the NonStop S-series servers allows all processors in a
system to access an adapter. Parallel Library TCP/IP takes advantage of this
architecture by using the communications adapter and the ServerNet™ cloud to route
packets directly to the processor containing the application. By directly routing packets
to the correct processor from the adapter, Parallel Library TCP/IP eliminates the
message-system hop that occurred between processes in the conventional TCP/IP
architecture.
By eliminating message-system hops, Parallel Library TCP/IP reduces the total path
length from the application to the wire. This path-length reduction reduces individual