Environment
Novell Cluster Services 1.8.3
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 7
Situation
Proliant DL380 G5 using BX2.LAN driver version 3.41 from NetWare 6.5 SP7 does not fail over on NIC failure. As part of testing the cable was pulled out of the NIC on node1. The server received the Link Status Down message but no other action occurred. This same result was duplicated using node2.
Resolution
Upgrade the BX2.LAN - Version 4.42.00 Monday, July 07, 2008. This can be obtained from NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 8 in the .\DRIVERS\LAN directory.
Additional Information
In a two node cluster the LAN card is monitored for Link Down status. This ensures that the node that has connectivity to the LAN survives regardless of whether it is master or slave.
Testing the new BX2.LAN driver results. Once the LAN cable was pulled the "Link Status Down" message occurred and the server poison pilled itself in approximately 8 seconds (cluster default tolerance).