NIC Teaming
Yevhenii Tomberg
What is NIC Teaming?
NIC teaming, also known as Load Balancing/Failover (LBFO) in the Microsoft world, is a mechanism that enables multiple physical network adapter cards in the same physical host/server to be bound together and placed into a "team" in the form of a single logical NIC.
What is the Benefits of Using NIC Teaming?
The benefits of NIC teaming stem from its load-balancing capabilities. Efficiently breaking up network traffic across multiple connections better utilizes network resources, ensures the availability of servers and increases bandwidth. It also helps simplify network configuration.
NIC Teaming Requirements for Virtual Machines
Before starting this process, there are a few NIC teaming requirements for virtual machines that will need to be in place. First, you will need access to either Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019 or 2022. You will also need at least two network adapters available. And finally, you’ll need to use the Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor to initiate NIC teaming.
NIC Teaming Modes
When you commence NIC Teaming, you’ll need to select what Teaming Mode to use. The Teaming Mode determines how the server and switch(es) will divvy up traffic between the multiple connections. There are three types of Teaming modes: Switch independent, Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) and Static.
Switch Independent Mode
Switch Independent Mode allows you to connect users to multiple, non-stack switches. This is the only teaming mode that doesn’t require configuration changes on the connected switches. Switch Independent Mode uses media access control (MAC) addresses to control to which interface incoming data should be sent.
Static Mode
Static Mode teaming requires you to manually configure the ports on the switch that connects with the NIC team into a Link Aggregation Group (LAG). In this mode, the server and the switch split traffic between all links connected to another device. The downside of this mode is that it doesn’t help isolate errors, such as incorrectly connected cables.
LACP Mode
LACP Mode is similar to Static teaming, except it ensures each active cable in the link is connected to the intended LAG. In fact, it will not send any data through links that are not connected to the predetermined LAG.
What is Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor?
You may be wondering from the previous section on requirements, what is Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor? It’s a kernel mode driver consisting of a set of protocols that help simplify NIC Teaming by removing the need for any third-party utilities. The Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor is initialized when using two different connections to form one physical device to increase bandwidth or fault tolerance.
Setting up NIC Teaming
I'll show you how to set up simple team on your server.
Team Creation
- In Server Manager, click Local Server.
- In the Properties pane locate NIC Teaming, and then click the link Disabled to the right. The NIC Teaming dialog box opens.
- In Adapters and Interfaces, select the network adapters that you want to add to a NIC Team.
- Click TASKS, and then click Add to New Team.
- The New team dialog box opens and displays network adapters and team members. In Team name, type a name for the new NIC Team.
- If needed, in Additional properties, select values for Teaming mode, Load balancing mode, and Standby adapter. In most cases, the highest-performing load balancing mode is Dynamic.
- If you want to configure or assign a VLAN number to the NIC Team, click the link to the right of Primary team interface. The New team interface dialog box opens.
To configure VLAN membership, click Specific VLAN. Type the VLAN information in the first section of the dialog box