3 Teaming Fundamentals for the First-Time User
A Technical Overview of HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming
HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming provides fault tolerance and load balancing across a
team of two or more network adapter ports. The term “team” refers to the concept of multiple
network adapters (teamed ports) working together as a single network adapter, commonly
referred to as a virtual network adapter or virtual NIC interface.
Figure 3-1 HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming
Fault Tolerance: Dual Homing or Network Adapter Teaming?
When considering network redundancy for a server, there are two commonly used solutions:
dual homing or Network Adapter Teaming (sometimes referred to as bonding).
Dual Homing a server involves installing two or more network adapters (NICs) in the server,
assigning an individual IP address to each adapter and connecting the adapters to the network
(refer to Figure 3-2). Dual Homing does provide path redundancy for the server to the network.
However, Dual Homing does not completely solve the network redundancy problem for a server.
The biggest issue is that Dual Homing does not provide IP address redundancy. For example,
if the Multi-homed server in Figure 3-1 loses network connectivity on NIC 1, any clients that
were connected to the server using IP address 1.1.1.1 will lose connectivity. For the clients to
reconnect to the server, they would have to discover the alternate IP address somehow and then
reinitiate connectivity. While Dual Homing provides semi-transparent redundancy for the server’s
outbound connectivity, it does not provide transparent redundancy for clients connecting to the
server.
A Technical Overview of HP Integrity Network Adapter Teaming 15
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