HP P4300 bonded using ALB (Adaptive Load Balancing) switch setup?

[abcj]

Hi.

I have P4300 (AT016A) with 2x nodes. Wanting to setup bonded NICs on each node using ALB (Adaptive Load Balancing). Wondering: do I need to setup Spanning Tree and Flow Control on the switch, or is this not required with ALB? I was a bit unsure in the documentation I read.

Thanks!

[Paul Hutchings]

My understanding is flow control yes, STP isn't required.

Don't forget to set the flow control on each individual NIC before creating the bond as it's a huge pain having to break the bond, set the individual NIC IPs back, enable flow control, and recreate the bond again.

[Amar_Joshi]

Also, remember that you have to enable the FC on all the hosts' NIC connecting to LHN storage.

As mentioned, STP is not required for ALB.

[abcj]

Ok.. so do I need to enable flow control on all NICs and switch ports for the P4300 and host servers connecting to P4300, but not other computers or ports on the switch? Is that right?

[Jitun]

Spanning Tree is not Recommended.
It introduces a initial delay in communication.

Hence leave Spanning Tree OFF.

Flow Control is Recommended to be ON
Smooths out traffic between Nodes/Hosts, Good for Performance too.

Perform the above on the Switch and the turn ON Flow Control on the individual Nics on the Nodes and then create a BOND.

Flow Control should be turned on the Host side as well.

[abcj]

Hi.

Is there any problem if I leave Flow Control OFF? I spoke to Cisco support (we have Cisco-Linksys switches), and they said they generally don't use Flow Control.

Also, I'm thinking of installing multiple switches for failover redundancy, in case a switch dies. But in this case STP will be necessary. Should that be fine, or is there a better alternative for implementing multiple switches? I was thinking of having the P4300 bonds setup so that each port was on a different switch, and both switches had a link to second site (with two switches there also).

Thanks!

[Bryan McMullan]

There's no real "problem" leaving flow control off. It does help with oversaturation of ports, so it's more of an efficiency setting. But if you are using Linksys switches...depending on model...you may be better off leaving it off as it may overload the switch.

It is not required for ALB and I've used it without in the past with no issues. You definately need to setup ALB though.