I should probably know how to do this, but I'm having trouble finding answers in plain language. I have a PE1950 III with dual NIC's that is acting as a file server. To my surprise, lately, the enabled NIC is running at a constant 70% while machines process data. I'd like to share the load with the second NIC, so I have been reading about teaming. I can't seem to find any "Here's how you do this" articles... and don't really even know if I need to be using link aggregation, trunking or load balancing. This 1950 sits behind a Dell PC6248 that I have access to, but again... no real understanding of what's inside.

If I had to guess, I'd say that I need to enable teaming on my Broadcom NIC's and use Link Agg or maybe generic trunking... configure the static IP... and then get into the 6248 go to the Link Aggregation section in Switching and create a new membership for the two ports on the switch and a hash config as well. I've got no real basis for this... I'm just guessing. There are probably more modifications to be made at the switch.

I need some help. Thanks!

Hello,

all steps to create a NIC TEAM, depending onused model, can be found at http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/network/BroadCom/ , the setup in the broadcom suite is quite similar. You need also to create "teamed" ports (depending on intended solution ,i.e. LAG) on switch , please refer to http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/network/PC62xx/en/UG/HTML/configud.htm#wp1318379 look for lag configuration.
If still stucked, ask at technical support (depending on purchased servicelevel, they will help you) or get in touch with your sales contact and ask for an offer of implenting teaming via engineer.

Best regards

Marcus

Which method of teaming should I use for this?

Hi,
please refer to http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/network/BroadCom/R125875/en/teaming.htm , the art and functions of teaming possibilities are explained.
I won`t give you an advise because you are the admin and have to decided which type of teaimng makes sense.
Most of the users are setting up load balancing with failover, which means that a virtual nic will be implented, 1 port is ative, 2nd passive and gets active if the 1st port fail or is getting "overloaded" , but this is, from my poinr of you, the most used teaming, it really depends what solution you want to archive, i.e. you ant a failover, adaptive load balancing will work out, you want the pue performance of your nics , a LAG is much better, I stronlgy recommend to read the link above and then decide, whats the best solution for you. Plaese don`t forget to setup the switch also
I definately can`t say "take the adaptive solution or take the LAG and you are good to go", its your decision mate

I`m confident when reading the description of teaming function you will find the best solution which fits

Best regards

Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Thank you for your help! I appreciate the link and I've read the information, but I still don't understand what the difference is between "Link Aggregation (802.3ad)" and "Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static". The stated difference is:

Generic Trunking "does not provide LACP or marker protocol support. This type of team supports a variety of environments in which the adapter link partners are statically configured to support a proprietary trunking mechanism. For instance, this type of team could be used to support Lucent's OpenTrunk or Cisco's Fast EtherChannel (FEC). Basically, this type of team is a light version of the Link Aggregation (802.3ad) type of team. This approach is much simpler, in that there is not a formalized link aggregation control protocol (LACP). As with the other types of teams, the creation of teams and the allocation of physical adapters to various teams is done statically through user configuration software."

Is that what I need to choose behind a Dell switch?

I don't have a need for failover, so load balancing should be out of the question.

I would go with the standard Link Aggregation since you are looking to use both adapters together. You will need to create that link aggregation membership for those ports as you mentioned previously...