[ofa-general] question about partitioning IB networks

[Meyer, Donald J]

I am trying to partition my IB network but I don't seem to be able to understand the opensm man page.

First it says "The default partition has P_Key value 0x7fff. OpenSM´s port will have full membership in default partition. All other end ports will have partial membership." but I don't see the difference defined between full and partial membership anywhere.  Is it possible the reference was to full and limited membership instead?  Does this partition have to exist on all CA's so the SM can "talk" them?  Also it says the default partition will be created "unconditionally even when partition configuration file does not exist or cannot be accessed."  Will it also be created if the partition configuration file exists but does not have a default partition defined?

Second, I see where CA's can be members of multiple partitions (have multiple P_keys).  If a CA is in multiple partitions (has multiple P_Keys assigned to it), which partition does it "send" on when the CA has packets to send if more than one partition can reach the destination CA?  Also do switches (or any non CA's) have to have P_Keys assigned for any reason?

Just as a sanity check, my interpretation so far is that my network should have a partition configuration file similar to the following.  Can anyone tell me if I have this correct?  In this example configuration, I am trying to create two partitions.  One with rack one and two, the other with rack three and four:

#Default partition (for SM control of the CA's)
Default=0x7fff,ipoib,rate=7:ALL=limited;
#rack1
rack1=0x111,ipoib,rate=7,defmember=full:<GUID_list>;
#rack2
rack2=0x111,ipoib,rate=7,defmember=full:<GUID_list>;
#rack3
rack3=0x112,ipoib,rate=7,defmember=full:<GUID_list>;
#rack4
rack4=0x112,ipoib,rate=7,defmember=full:<GUID_list>;

Thanks,
Don Meyer
Senior Network/System Engineer/Programmer
US+ (253) 371-9532 iNet 8-371-9532
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others

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