IP Groups

IP Groups are a core component of eEKAS, providing a flexible and powerful way to manage service accessibility and high availability across the cluster. Instead of binding services like SMB, NFS, iSCSI, or NVMe-oF to a specific network interface or server, IP Groups allow these services to be dynamically assigned and moved across nodes as needed.

Each IP Group acts as a logical container for one or more IP addresses and is used to host a specific set of services. These groups are not tied to a physical node, meaning they can fail over automatically to another node in case of a hardware failure or maintenance event, ensuring service continuity and resilience.

Key Benefits of IP Groups

High Availability: In the event of a node failure, IP Groups are automatically transferred to another healthy node, maintaining uninterrupted access to services.

Service Isolation: Different services can be assigned to separate IP Groups, allowing for clean separation and better security.

Simplified Management: Administrators can manage network services centrally and reassign IP Groups without disrupting the entire system.

Scalability: IP Groups make it easy to scale services across the cluster by reassigning or expanding groups without complex reconfiguration.

Use Cases

Assigning a dedicated IP Group for each department or service type (e.g., separate groups for file sharing and backups).

Enabling iSCSI / NVMe-oF multipath access by assigning multiple IP addresses to a single IP Group, allowing initiators to connect through multiple network paths for improved throughput and failover resilience.

Seamlessly migrating services during node failure, maintenance or upgrades.

In eEKAS, IP Groups are designed to enhance the modularity, flexibility, and fault tolerance of your storage infrastructure, forming the backbone of its service availability model.