Help in setup NIC teaming on DL380 G4

[Sgul]

Hi,
I need some clarification on NIC teaming on our DL380 G4 two NICs.

Currently only one is active and connected to the network. I want to hookup the second NIC and setup loadbalancing teaming.

Do I need to organise a new IP for the second NIC ?

Or will the existing IP from the first NIC be used to setup the Virtual NIC in a teamed environment ?

Appreciate any clarification.
regards

[Joel Belizario]

From memory the NIC teaming software will create a virtual NIC in Windows that represents the teamed connection and it has one IP address.

The other thing you need to consider is your network switch must support aggregated links such as LACP.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/teaming.html

[Sgul]

Thanks Joel,
I'm still not clear about the IP business...

Do I need to get another IP address for the second NIC before I create the team ?

Or when the virtual NIC is created, do I assign it the IP that the server is currently using. (which is the IP of the first NIC on the server) ?

Thanks

[Joel Belizario]

The teaming is occuring at Layer 2 so the IP address should remain the same.

An analogy I would use is you're widening the road to include more lanes but it doesn't change your start / destination point.

[Sgul]

Thanks Joel,
I think I understand it now. Is the follow statement correct.

I do not need to get a new IP for the second NIC.
I simply have to create a NIC Team.
And then assign the current IP address of the server(from the first NIC) to the Virtual NIC that is created.

kind regards

[Joel Belizario · Accepted solution]

Yes but before you do so I would check with your network guys if the switch the server is connected to supports the LACP protocol (or similar).

If you turn on teaming and the switch does not support link aggregation then you would create a loop and possibly bring the network down.

[Sgul]

Thanks,
I'll be checking the switch capabilities before I do anything.

I just needed to understand the IP business before I go any further.

regards