10Installing 3Com Advanced Server Features for Windows

•The following guidelines apply to groups under Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000:

802.1p Support Property—The value of the Windows 802.1p support property must be the same for all NICs in a group. For example, if this property is enabled for the primary NIC, it must also be enabled for all other NICs in the group.

Microsoft Task Offload Support—It is possible to form a group of NICs that have different levels of support for Microsoft Task Offload features (TCP Checksum, TCP Segmentation, and IPSec). In this case, the offload support is limited to the features supported by all NICs in the group. For example, if two NICs in a group support all offload features but one NIC supports only TCP Checksum, then offload support for the group is limited to TCP Checksum.

•Observe these VLAN configuration guidelines:

•Assign a VLAN ID number to each VLAN. If you are not using a DHCP server, each VLAN that is using IP services requires an IP address and subnet mask.

3Com Advanced Server software supports as many as 16 VLANs per server.

•Each VLAN bound to TCP/IP must exist on a separate IP subnet. DHCP servers used to allocate IP addresses must be located on the same IP subnets as the VLANs.

•Each VLAN bound to the IPX/SPX protocol must use a unique network number.

•To avoid problems associated with blocked multicast streams, configure end stations that support the IEEE 802.1p GARP Multicast Registration Protocol specification (GMRP) on separate switch segments from stations that do not support it.

•Under Windows 2003 and Windows 2000, when VLANs are enabled, the Windows 802.1p Support property must be disabled for all the underlying miniports.

•The following memory requirements are for multiple VLAN configurations. You can improve overall system performance with VLANs by increasing the physical RAM, the virtual memory page size, or both.

Number of VLANs

Minimum RAM Size (MB)

Up to 16

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CAUTION: Before creating or removing a load balancing group or VLAN, take note of configuration information such as IP addresses and IPX network numbers. 3Com Advanced Server software does not restore a network configuration to its pre-Advanced Server state. Always verify that the network configuration conforms to your expectations after creating or removing a load balancing group or VLAN.

Working With Server Features

The 3Com Advanced Server features window contains tabs for these windows:

•In the Load Balance/RSL window, you can create and change Load Balancing/RSL groups. The NICs in a group work together to route traffic efficiently and to recover from failures.

•In the VLANs window, you can set up virtual LANs. All groups listed on the Load Balance/RSL window also appear as groups in the VLAN window. Any ungrouped NICs in the Load Balance/RSL window are also listed in the VLAN window.

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