Ethernet Products
Determine ramifications of Intel® Ethernet products and technologies
4810 Discussions

Can I make both adapters active in a Team with 2 I210 NICs each connected to a different switch?

NSpic
Beginner
1,883 Views

I have a single board computer with two I210 adapters each connected to a different switch. The adapters are in an ALB team with RLB enabled. Only one adapter is active and connection requests that come to the other adapter from the other switch fail.

Is there a way to make both adapters in the team active?

Thanks.

0 Kudos
12 Replies
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi NAS18W,

 

 

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

 

 

Connecting to different switches is not a supported configuration for ALB \ RLB.

 

 

Please share additional details of your intended setup. We might be able to help you look for other options.

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support

 

 

 

 

 

0 Kudos
NSpic
Beginner
540 Views

Hi Vince.

Thanks for your reply.

I have continued to experiment since posting and am currently working with Switch Fault Tolerant teaming. I have an enclosure with three single board computers and two unmanaged layer 2 switches. An application on computer A needs to connect to applications on Computers B & C. The app on computer A only supports a single IP address for each of the target applications. The two external devices may be workstations or managed switches.

I am trying to configure teaming on two adapters on computers B & C to provide redundancy in the event of cable, adapter, or switch failure.

The problem I am having seems to be the state of the teamed adapters which seems to be dependent on whether the two switches can communicate. If I add a connection between switch 1 and switch 2 or add two external switches with a connection between them, I get the desired results. If there is no connection between the switches, one adapter in the team displays as active and the other as inactive. It appears that some of the time the connection request from computer A comes to the inactive adapter on computer B or C and fails and there is no attempt to try the other path.

Is a connection between the switches required for teaming to work (when there are no failures)?

Thanks,

Neil,

0 Kudos
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

You can try to manually set the "primary" adapters on the Team in computer B and C to avoid computer A from connecting to the inactive adapters. This setting is found in the "Modify Team" under the "Settings" tab of the Team advanced properties in Device Manager.

 

 

Assuming connection to Switch 1 is your active link, Computer A, B, and C will communicate through Switch 1. If Switch 1 fails, The Teaming software would detect link failure and activate the adapter connecting to Switch 2.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

Please let us know if you were able to try the above suggestion. Thanks.

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
NSpic
Beginner
540 Views

Hi Vince.

I haven't had a chance to test it out yet. Should be able to test that configuration next week. I will update after that.

Thanks.

Neil.

0 Kudos
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

Thanks for the update. We'll wait for your post.

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

If you're able to test the configuration, please share the update. Thanks.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
idata
Employee
540 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

How are you?

 

 

Kindly let us know if you still need assistance from Intel Wired Communities. Thanks.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
NSpic
Beginner
540 Views

Hi Vince.

Thanks for following up.

Initial testing seemed to work. Team type is Switch Fault Tolerant and Primary adapter is set. Unfortunately my test unit is tied up for a couple of weeks so I haven't been able to test further. I hope to have it back my mid-November and plan to test further. No further assistance required at this time.

 

Thanks again.

Neil.

0 Kudos
idata
Employee
539 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

Glad to know the initial test works. By the way, we'd like to confirm if the I210 you're using is Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1. Thanks.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
NSpic
Beginner
539 Views

Hi Vince.

My development unit has been unavailable for a couple of weeks which has delayed by response.

The Intel I210 Ethernet Adapters are installed on Curtiss-Wright Single Board Computers. The only identification I have been able to find is the "I210" which shows up in Windows Device Manager. I don't see anything that includes the "-T1".

Thanks.

Neil.

0 Kudos
idata
Employee
539 Views

Hi Neil,

 

 

Thanks for the information. The "T1" should be visible on the label in the physical adapter.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Vince T.

 

Intel Customer Support
0 Kudos
Reply