Filter
Top Products
Chapter 1: Advanced Server Program Overview
14
Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) Overview
BASP is an intermediate software driver for Windows Server 2003,
Windows 2000, and Linux that provides load-balancing, fault-tolerance,
and VLAN features.
The BASP features are provided by creating teams (virtual adapters) that
consist of multiple NIC interfaces. A team can consist of one to eight NIC
interfaces. You can designate each interface as a primary or standby*
interface. All primary interfaces in a team participate in Load-balancing
operations by sending and receiving a portion of the total traffic. Standby
interfaces take over in the event that all primary interfaces have lost their
links. VLANs can be added to a team to allow multiple VLANs with
different VLAN IDs. A virtual adapter is created for each VLAN added.
Load-balancing and fault-tolerance features work with any third party's
NIC adapters, but are only supported with the Allied Telesyn Gigabit
Ethernet adapters. VLANs only work with the Allied Telesyn Gigabit
Ethernet adapters.
Note
*You can use Standby only in Smart Load-Balance mode (see
Limitations below).
Smart Load-balance (SLB) mode works with all Ethernet switches without
configuring the switch ports to any special trunking mode. Only IP traffic is
load-balanced in both inbound and outbound directions. In comparison,
IPX traffic is load-balanced in the outbound direction only. Other protocol
packets are be sent and received through one primary NIC only. Fault-
tolerance for non-IP traffic is only supported using the Allied Telesyn
Gigabit Ethernet adapters. The Generic Trunking mode requires the
Ethernet switch to support some form of port trunking mode (for example,
Cisco's Gigabit EtherChannel or other switch vendor's link aggregation
mode). This mode is protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-
balanced and fault-tolerant.
Note
Allied Telesyn recommends that you disable the spanning tree
protocol at the switch when you use BASP. This setting minimizes
the downtime due to spanning tree loop determination when failing
over.
Note
The Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) requires that at
least one adapter in the team be an Allied Telesyn Gigabit Ethernet
adapters.