Windows Integrity Network Adapter Teaming White Paper

ports have become segregated onto different broadcast domains (because of link loss on an
upstream switch uplink, server network adapter ports are connected to the wrong switch
ports, VLAN misconfiguration on a switch, etc.) Also, Fast Path is used by HP Integrity
Network Adapter Teaming to determine which teamed port is the optimal port to use as
the team’s Primary port among one or more teamed ports with validated connectivity to
the preferred Spanning Tree root switch.
Fast Path is extremely important for configurations with teamed ports connected to more
than one switch.
• Dual Channel – Switch-assisted Dual Channel Load Balancing, simply referred to as Dual
Channel, is a special team type designed by HP Engineering to accomplish everything that
NFT, TLB and SLB team types accomplish all in a single team type (refer to Table 3-2).
Dual Channel is extremely important for configurations requiring full load balancing and
switch redundancy at the same time.
Table 3-2 Dual Channel capabilities comparison
Switch RedundancyReceive Load
Balancing
Transmit Load
Balancing
Fault Tolerance
√√NFT
√√√TLB
√√√√Dual Channel
(available in Windows
Server 2003 only)
√√√√Dynamic Dual
Channel
(available in Windows
Server 2003 only)
√√√SLB
√√√802.3ad
√√NFT
Basic Deployment Steps for HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming
Download
HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming is listed as a downloadable component on the drivers
download page for every HP network adapter and HP Integrity server that supports it. To find
the download for HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming, go to http://h18004.www1.hp.com/
support/files/networking/us/index.html and select the type of network adapter in the server.
Next, select the operating system support needed. When the driver page loads, go to the “Driver
– Network” section.
Select and download the driver labeled “HP Network Configuration Utility”. The downloadable
package is called a “Component Pack” and has a file name like CPnnnnn.exe.
Install
The HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming driver is a self-installing executable. Launch the
CPnnnnn.exe file and follow any directions to complete the installation. If any error messages
are received because of outdated network card drivers, go back to the URL listed in the previous
section and choose the latest drivers for the network card.
Basic Deployment Steps for HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming 23