Intel Teaming in a mesh domain

[deleted12.11]

Hi,

we have 2x 5304xl switches (software version E.10.61) in a mesh domain.
Each of our servers is connected to both switches.
The server NICs are bundled with Intel Teaming, which is currently running in Switch Fault Tolerance Mode.

Is there any solution to set up the Teaming mode to load balancing including both switches in a mesh?

I heard something about Teaming with dynamic LACP, but I have no idea if and how it will work between 2 switches.

Any hint would be nice.

Thanks
Stefan

[Matt Hobbs · Accepted solution]

You can use SFT no problem and connect each NIC to different switches which is what you're currently doing. You can also use Transmit Load Balancing, sometimes called ALB. This gives a better performance as both NICs can transmit.

The type of teaming that you cannot currently do from one server to different switches is Switch Assisted Load Balancing, SLB, or 802.3ad (LACP). This is the type of load balancing that will let you both send and receive traffic.

What would allow this is Split Trunking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation - although I have no idea what ProCurve's plans are for this.