Discussion on HP NIC teaming technology

The NIC teaming technology bundles 2 or more network adapters (up to 8 HP NIC teaming) to achieve increased total bandwidth (load Balance, load balancing) or line fault tolerance (Fault tolerance). A logical network port consisting of 2 or more network adapters the TEAMPORT,IP address and network settings are bound to the teamport of this logic, so that no matter which physical network card or its linked link fails alone, Teamport still works, The server's external network connection will not be interrupted.

In order to facilitate the description, unless specifically stated, this article in the following sections of the examples of 2 or more network cards are written in 2 network cards, the schematic diagram is only 2 network cards.

The HP server's NIC teaming is divided into three broad categories of 7 options, which refer to NFT, TLB, and SLB. (7 options After the text will explain)

"NFT"

NFT is network Fault tolerant abbreviation, this mode is in the active (active) state, while another network card in standby (standby) state, usually only a network card in use. In NFT mode, the Teamport 2 1Gb network cards are connected to 2 different switches, the Teamport total bandwidth is only 1Gb, this model is fault-tolerant, but does not have the ability to increase bandwidth and load balance.

"TLB"

TLB is the transmit load Balance, literally, is the outgoing (Tx) load balance, that is, packets sent from the server to the outside, according to a certain rule, from the teamport of the 2 network cards, but this way, can not guarantee acceptance (Rx Data packets can also be load-balanced. Simply put, TLB can do network fault tolerance, Teamport TX is 2Gb bandwidth, rx or only 1Gb (unless there is another way to do load balancing)

"SLB"

SLB is the switch-assist load Balance, as the name suggests, the switch assistance load balance, that is, the need for the switch on the corresponding configuration to achieve. The 2 network adapters in the SLB team must be connected to the same switch, and the 2 NICs to the 2 ports of the same switch are merged to form a channel, the Cisco switch terminology called EtherChannel, and the other manufacturers ' switches are often called Port Trunk. This form of joint channel is also referred to as static link aggregation (SLA, static link Aggregation). SLB Way of Teamport is bidirectional 2gb,tx and RX Data flow can achieve load balancing, but it can only ensure that the network card fault tolerance, do not have the switch fault tolerance.