Users Guide

12–Marvell Teaming Services
Teaming Mechanisms
Doc No. BC0054508-00 Rev. R
January 21, 2021 Page 165 Copyright © 2021 Marvell
Network Communications
The following are the key attributes of dynamic trunking:
 Failover mechanism—Link loss detection
 Load Balancing Algorithm—Outbound traffic is balanced through a Marvell
proprietary mechanism based on Layer 4 flows. Inbound traffic is balanced
according to a switch specific mechanism.
 Outbound Load Balancing using MAC Address—No
 Outbound Load Balancing using IP Address—Yes
 Multivendor teaming—Supported (Must include at least one Marvell
Ethernet adapter as a team member)
Applications
Dynamic trunking works with switches that support IEEE 802.3ad Link
Aggregation dynamic mode using LACP. Inbound load balancing is switch
dependent. In general, the switch traffic is load balanced based on Layer 2
addresses. In this case, all network protocols such as IP, IPX, and NetBEUI are
load balanced. Therefore, this is the recommended teaming mode when the
switch supports LACP, except when switch fault tolerance is required. SLB is the
only teaming mode that supports switch fault tolerance.
Configuration Recommendations
Dynamic trunking supports connecting the teamed ports to switches as long as
they are on the same broadcast domain and supports IEEE 802.3ad LACP
trunking. It does not support connecting to a router or Layer 3 switches because
the ports must be on the same subnet.
LiveLink
LiveLink is a feature of QLASP that is available for the Smart Load Balancing
(SLB) and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) types of teaming. The purpose of LiveLink
is to detect link loss beyond the switch and to route traffic only through team
members that have a live link. This function is accomplished though the teaming
software. The teaming software periodically probes (issues a link packet from
each team member) one or more specified target network devices. The probe
target(s) responds when it receives the link packet. If a team member does not
detect the response within a specified amount of time, this indicates that the link
has been lost, and the teaming software discontinues passing traffic through that
team member. Later, if that team member begins to detect a response from a
probe target, this indicates that the link has been restored, and the teaming
software automatically resumes passing traffic through that team member.
LiveLink works only with TCP/IP.