Dell Broadcom NetXtreme Family of Adapters User Manual
Page 67
Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet Teaming Services: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM57XX User Guide
file:///C|/Users/Nalina_N_S/Documents/NetXtreme/English/teamsvcs.htm[9/5/2014 3:32:13 PM]
A team of adapters function as a single virtual network interface and does not appear any different to other network devices
than a non-teamed adapter. A virtual network adapter advertises a single Layer 2 and one or more Layer 3 addresses. When
the teaming driver initializes, it selects one MAC address from one of the physical adapters that make up the team to be the
Team MAC address. This address is typically taken from the first adapter that gets initialized by the driver. When the system
hosting the team receives an ARP request, it selects one MAC address from among the physical adapters in the team to use
as the source MAC address in the ARP Reply. In Windows operating systems, the IPCONFIG /all command shows the IP and
MAC address of the virtual adapter and not the individual physical adapters. The protocol IP address is assigned to the virtual
network interface and not to the individual physical adapters.
For switch-independent teaming modes, all physical adapters that make up a virtual adapter must use the unique MAC
address assigned to them when transmitting data. That is, the frames that are sent by each of the physical adapters in the
team must use a unique MAC address to be IEEE compliant. It is important to note that ARP cache entries are not learned
from received frames, but only from ARP requests and ARP replies.
Description of Teaming Types
Smart Load Balancing and Failover
Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad LACP)
There are three methods for classifying the supported teaming types:
One is based on whether the switch port configuration must also match the adapter teaming type.
The second is based on the functionality of the team, whether it supports load balancing and failover or just failover.
The third is based on whether the Link Aggregation Control Protocol is used or not.
shows a summary of the teaming types and their classification.
Table 2. Available Teaming Types
Teaming Type
Switch-Dependent
(Switch must support
specific type of
team)
Link Aggregation Control
Protocol support is required on
the switch
Load
Balancing Failover
Smart Load Balancing and Failover (with
two to eight load balance team
members)
SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable)
Link Aggregation (802.3ad)
Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-
Draft Static
Smart Load Balancing and Failover
The Smart Load Balancing™ and Failover type of team provides both load balancing and failover when configured for load
balancing, and only failover when configured for fault tolerance. This type of team works with any Ethernet switch and
requires no trunking configuration on the switch. The team advertises multiple MAC addresses and one or more IP addresses
(when using secondary IP addresses). The team MAC address is selected from the list of load balance members. When the
system receives an ARP request, the software-networking stack will always send an ARP Reply with the team MAC address. To
begin the load balancing process, the teaming driver will modify this ARP Reply by changing the source MAC address to match
one of the physical adapters.
Smart Load Balancing enables both transmit and receive load balancing based on the Layer 3/Layer 4 IP address and
TCP/UDP port number. In other words, the load balancing is not done at a byte or frame level but on a TCP/UDP session basis.
This methodology is required to maintain in-order delivery of frames that belong to the same socket conversation. Load
balancing is supported on 2 to 8 ports. These ports can include any combination of add-in adapters and LAN on Motherboard