Chapter 11. Advanced Copy Services 559
Figure 11-100   Multinode systems single inter-site link with only one remote copy port group
As shown in Figure 11-100, there are two 4-node systems: 
– System A
– System B
A single remote copy port group 1 is configured on nodes A1, A2, A3, and A4 on System 
A, Site A; and on nodes B1, B2, B3, and B4 on System B, Site B. Although four ports are 
configured for remote copy group 1, only one Ethernet port in each remote copy port 
group on each system actively participates in the IP partnership process. 
Port selection is determined by a path configuration algorithm. The other ports play the 
role of standby ports.
If Node A1 fails in System A, the IP partnership selects one of the remaining ports that is 
configured with remote copy port group 1 from any of the nodes from either of the two I/O 
groups in System A. However, it might take some time (generally seconds) for discovery 
and path configuration logic to reestablish paths post failover. This process can cause 
partnerships to change to the Not_Present state. 
This result causes remote copy relationships to stop. The administrator might need to 
manually verify the issues in the event log and start the relationships or remote copy 
consistency groups, if they do not autorecover. The details of the particular IP port actively 
participating in the IP partnership process is provided in the lsportip view (reported as 
used). 
This configuration has the following characteristics:
– Each node has the remote copy port group that is configured in both I/O groups. 
However, only one port in that remote copy port group remains active and participates 
in IP partnership on each system.