3Com 3CR990-TX-97, 3CR990-TX-95, 3CR990SVR97 manual Maintaining Groups, Planning the Configuration

104CHAPTER 5: INSTALLING NETWARE CLIENT AND SERVER DRIVERS

Maintaining Groups

DynamicAccess technology server features allow you to configure load balancing groups. The load balancing features are described in Advanced Server Features on page 17.

The following DynamicAccess technology server features are available for NIC groups in NetWare:

■load balancing

■RSL failover

The examples in this section illustrate typical actions you might take in the course of maintaining a DynamicAccess server configuration under NetWare. They show how to add NICs and groups to a server where DynamicAccess technology server features are already installed and configured.

Two drivers are associated with DynamicAccess technology server features in NetWare: SE and LBRSL.

Planning the Configuration

■Plan the cable changes required to connect each primary NIC and all secondary NICs to the same network segment.

■For optimum failover performance, turn the spanning tree feature off at switches that are connected directly to the server. If the spanning tree feature must be turned on, a failover may be delayed up to 30 seconds while the switch processes the spanning tree algorithm.

■Decide which NICs are to be part of each group. Each group must include at least two NICs.

■Decide whether you want to use a foreign NIC in one of the groups.

One foreign NIC (one that is not a 3CR990 NIC) is allowed in one group per server.

■Decide which NIC is to be the primary NIC in each group.