IBM 201 manual Alacritech Ethernet adapter teaming, Load balancing

Load balancing

In load balancing mode, all adapters in the team are active, increasing the total transmission throughput over the common IP subnetwork. If any adapter in the team fails (link failure or complete failure), the other adapters in the team continue to share the network transmission load, although total throughput is decreased. Load balancing is only supported for adapter teams consisting of only one type of adapter; different types of adapters cannot be combined in a load balancing team.

You configure adapter teaming with Intel PROSet II, which is preloaded on the NAS 200, as follows:

1.On the NAS 200, physically connect the adapters that you wish to team to the same IP subnetwork.

2.Access the NAS 200 desktop by directly attaching a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, or over the network by starting Terminal Services on another workstation. (For instructions on how to invoke Terminal Services, see “Terminal Services and the IBM NAS Administration Console” in Chapter 3 of the User’s Reference.

3.From the NAS 200 desktop, go to the Start menu, then select Settings, then select Control Panel.

4.Double-click the Intel PROSet II icon in the Control Panel to start Intel PROSet II.

5.You will see a list of all adapters for each slot and type supported under Network Components.

6.Under Network Components, you will see a list of resident and non-resident adapters for each slot and type supported under Network Components. Drivers are preset for all supported adapter configurations, but will be loaded only for resident adapters.

7.Identify which adapters you are going to team. You do this by left-clicking the adapter under Network Components, and selecting one of the adapters that will be part of the teaming.

8.Right click the adapter, then select Add to Team, then select Create New Team....

9.Select the type of team you wish to create.

10.Select the adapters for the team you are creating by selecting the check box for the appropriate adapters in the list, and then select Next.

11.Verify that these settings are correct, and then select Finish.

The procedure creates a device named Intel Advanced Network Services Virtual Adapter. It also binds all network protocols that were bound to the physical adapters that were added to the team to this virtual adapter, and unbinds those protocols from the physical adapters. If you delete the team, the settings will return to the state prior to creating the team.

For complete help on adapter teaming, from Intel PROSet II click Network

Components, and then select Help from the Help menu.

Alacritech Ethernet adapter teaming

The Quad-port 10/100 Ethernet Adapter supports the Cisco Fast EtherChannel (FEC) technology across the four ports on the adapter. You can configure it by clicking successively on Control Panel→Network→Adapter→Properties→Teaming in the Windows interface.

Chapter 6. Additional administrative functions 45