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Advanced Control Suite for the AT-2931SX Adapter User’s Guide
11
AT-2931SX Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) Overview
AT-2931SX BASP is an intermediate software driver for Windows Server
2003, Windows 2000, and Linux that provides load-balancing, fault-
tolerance, and VLAN features. This manual covers BASP for the Windows
2000 and Linux platforms.
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. Each interface can be designated 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 will only be supported with the AT-2931SX adapter.
VLANs only work with the AT-2931SX adapters.
Note
*Standby can only be used 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
will be load-balanced in both inbound and outbound directions. In
comparison, IPX traffic will be load-balanced in the outbound direction
only. Other protocol packets will be sent and received through one primary
NIC only. Fault-tolerance for non-IP traffic is only supported using AT-
2931SX 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 disabling the spanning tree protocol at
the switch when using BASP. This will minimize the downtime due to
spanning tree loop determination when failing over.
Note
The AT-2931SX Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP)
requires that at least one adapter in the team must be a AT-2931SX
adapter.