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teamed port. In other words, if frame order preservation is desired, outbound load balancing by the team
should be performed on a conversation-by-conversation basis rather than on a frame-by-frame basis.
To accomplish this, the load-balancing device (either a team or a switch) needs information to identify
conversations. Destination MAC address, Destination IP address, and TCP Connection are used to
identify conversations (see Figure 64).
Figure 64 Team Properties page, Transmitting Loa d B alancing Met h od
It is very important to understand the differences between the load-balancing methods when deploying
HP ProLiant Network Adapter Teaming in an environment that requires load balancing of routed Layer 3
traffic. Because the methods use conversations to load balance, the resulting trafficmaynotbedistributed
equally across all ports in the team. The benefits of maintaining frame order outweigh the lack of perfect
traffic distribution across teamed ports’ members.
Implementers of HP ProLiant Network Adapter Te aming can choose the appropriate load balancing
method via the NCU.
Automatic (Recommended)
Automatic is a load-balancing method that is designed to preserve frame ordering. This metho d will
load balance outbound traffic based on the highest layer of information in the frame. For instance, if
a frame has a TCP header with TCP port values, the frame will be load balancing by TCP connection
(refer to “TCP Connection method” below). If the frame has an IP header with an IP address but no TCP
hea
der, then the frame is load balanced by destination IP address (refer to “Destination IP Address
method” b elow). If the frame does not have an IP hea der, the frame is load balanced by destination
MAC add ress (refer to “Destination MAC Address method” below) .
Aut
omatic is the HP-recommended setting for outbound load balancing. Although in the current product
Aut
omatic mode is identical to TCP Connection mode, future releases may augment the Automatic mode.
By
deploying this method now, future upgrades will automatically take advantage of the new intelligence.
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Network adapter teaming