Dell Intel PRO Family of Adapters - Manual (Page 22)

Responder Testing
The Intel adapter can send test messages to another Ethernet adapter on the same network. This testing is available in
DOS via the diags.exe utility found in the \DOSUtilities\UserDiag\ directory on the installation CD or downloaded from
Customer Support .
Adapter Teaming
ANS Teaming, a feature of the Intel Advanced Network Services (ANS) component, lets you take advantage of multiple
adapters in a system by grouping them together. ANS can use features like fault tolerance and load balancing to
increase throughput and reliability.
Teaming functionality is provided through the intermediate driver, ANS. Teaming uses the intermediate driver to group
physical adapters into a team that acts as a single virtual adapter. ANS serves as a wrapper around one or more base
drivers, providing an interface between the base driver and the network protocol stack. By doing so, the intermediate
driver gains control over which packets are sent to which physical interface as well as control over other properties
essential to teaming.
There are several teaming modes you can configure ANS adapter teams to use.
Setting Up Adapter Teaming
Before you can set up adapter teaming in Windows*, you must install Intel® PROSet software. For more information on
setting up teaming, see the information for your operating system.
Operating Systems Supported
The following links provide information on setting up teaming with your operating system:
l Windows
NOTE: To configure teams in Linux, use Channel Bonding, available in supported Linux kernels. For more
information see the channel bonding documentation within the kernel source, located at Docu-
mentation/networking/bonding.txt.
Supported Adapters
Teaming options are supported on Intel server adapters. Selected adapters from other manufacturers are also sup-
ported. If you are using a Windows-based computer, adapters that appear in Intel PROSet may be included in a team.
NOTE: In order to use adapter teaming, you must have at least one Intel gigabit or 10 gigabit server adapter in
your system. Furthermore, all adapters must be linked to the same switch or hub.
Conditions that may prevent you from teaming a device
During team creation or modification, the list of available team types or list of available devices may not include all
team types or devices. This may be caused by any of several conditions, including:
l The operating system does not support the desired team type.
l The device does not support the desired team type or does not support teaming at all.
l The devices you want to team together use different driver versions.
l You are trying to team an Intel PRO/100 device with an Intel 10GbE device.
l You can add Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) enabled devices to Adapter Fault Tolerance
(AFT), Switch Fault Tolerance (SFT), and Adaptive Load Balancing (ALB) teams. All other team types are not
supported. The Intel AMT enabled device must be designated as the primary adapter for the team.
l The device's MAC address is overridden by the Locally Administered Address advanced setting.
l Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Boot has been enabled on the device.
l The device has “OS Controlled” selected on the Data Center tab.
l The device has a virtual NIC bound to it.
l The device is part of a Microsoft* Load Balancing and Failover (LBFO) team.