Design Guide
●Network Fault Tolerance (NFT)
●Transmit Load Balancing (TLB)
●Switch Assisted Load Balancing (server load balancing [SLB])
NFT teaming creates a virtual interface by grouping the
TLB teaming supports adapter fault tolerance (NFT) and adds more functions in the server for load balancing egress (transmit) traffic across the team. Note that a TLB team uses only one NIC to receive traffic. The
SLB teaming extends the functions of TLB by allowing the team to receive
For more information about NIC teaming, please visit: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/whitepapers.html.
Scalability
The capability of the data center to adapt to increased demands without compromising its availability is a crucial design consideration. The aggregation layer infrastructure and the services it provides must accommodate future growth in the number of servers or subnets it supports.
When deploying blade servers in the data center, two primary factors need to be considered:
●Number of physical ports in the aggregation and access layers
●Number of slots in the aggregation layer switches
Physical Port Count
The introduction of blade systems into the data center requires greater port density at the aggregation layer. Blade systems, deployed with internal switches, provide their own access layer. The cabling and maximum number of servers per enclosure are predetermined. Scaling the aggregation layer ports to accommodate the
It is important to remember that aggregation switches provide data center services such as load balancing, security, and network analysis that may require dedicated ports for appliances or slots for integrated services. This situation directly affects the number of ports available for access layer connectivity.
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