Nic Teaming - Combined bandwidth Setup

Question

Hello Everybody

I want to setup Nic Teaming with a Dell 4 port network card. So combined speed must be 1GB x 4 port = 4GB Total Bandwidth. The Dell 4 port network card will connect to a L3 Management Network Switch. Server is setup to be a File Server only to store data.

Questions - Nic Teaming

1. Must I select all 4x Ethernet Adapters in Nic Teaming?
2. How must I setup Teaming mode, Load balancing mode & Standby Adapter?
3. What must I configure on 3 Management Network Switch?

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

To set up NIC Teaming with your Dell 4-port network card and a Layer 3 (L3) Management Network Switch, here are answers to your questions:

1. Must I select all 4 Ethernet Adapters in NIC Teaming?

Yes, for NIC Teaming to function optimally, all four Ethernet adapters on the Dell i350 4-port card should be selected. This allows the system to combine the bandwidth of all four ports, aggregating them into a single virtual adapter, which results in the 4GB total bandwidth. However, your switch and network infrastructure must support this setup.

2. How must I set up Teaming Mode, Load Balancing Mode & Standby Adapter?

Teaming Mode: This should be set to "Static Teaming" or "LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol)" if your switch supports LACP. LACP allows dynamic negotiation and is generally preferred for better redundancy and management.

Load Balancing Mode: This typically depends on the type of traffic and application needs. Common load balancing methods include:

Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB): Balances traffic based on outgoing traffic.

IEEE 802.3ad (LACP): Balances traffic based on MAC addresses, using dynamic link aggregation.

Standby Adapter: In this case, you typically wouldn’t need a dedicated standby adapter if you're using LACP, as it offers fault tolerance and load distribution across the NICs. However, in a less dynamic setup, you could configure one NIC as a backup in case of failure of another port.

3. What must I configure on the 3 Management Network Switch?

The switch will need to support Link Aggregation (LAG) or LACP for the setup to work properly:

Enable LAG or LACP: Ensure that the switch supports LACP (most modern switches do). On the switch, you'll need to configure the ports connected to the Dell network card in an LACP bundle. This will allow the switch to treat the multiple NICs as a single logical link.

Ensure correct VLAN configuration: If you're using VLANs, configure them on the switch, ensuring that the ports used for NIC Teaming are tagged with the appropriate VLANs.

Enable Spanning Tree Protocol (STP): This prevents network loops and ensures redundancy without broadcast storms. In case of a NIC failure, STP will help reroute traffic.

Once these configurations are done on both the server and the switch, you should have a functional NIC Teaming setup that can provide aggregated bandwidth.

Let me know if you'd like more detail on any specific part!

I hope the above information is helpful to you.

Best regards

Rosy Yuan

Answer 2

Thank you very much. Have a great weekend