Link aggregation tests end in server crash
Incompatibilities between Win2K and Intel PRO/100 NICs mar bandwidth scalability testing.
 
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By CHARLES BRUNO
The sudden server crashes point to incompatibilities between the server's host Windows 2000 operating system and Priority Packet NIC software, used to team the Intel PRO/100 Intelligent Server Adapters tested.
Tests also revealed that the Intel server NICs provided ample bandwidth for data flowing across multiple server adapters and downstream clients. However, the adapter team failed to scale bandwidth for inbound traffic.
Intel acknowledged the limitation of the NIC software to scale bandwidth only for data flowing from the server to downstream clients. Its inability to shape bandwidth in a symmetric fashion for both inbound and outbound server traffic flows limits the NIC software's effectiveness for managing server bandwidth. Intel endorses the use of link-aggregation functionality on Fast Ethernet switches to achieve upstream link aggregation.
The Intel PRO/100 Intelligent Server Adapters tested support a so-called overflow-style load-balancing algorithm, which redirects traffic to a pair of secondary server NIC adapters once the primary adapter has reached its processing capacity.
While a trio of Fast Ethernet adapters joined to form a single logical connection should yield throughput three times that of a single adapter, tests show the Intel offering fell well short of that mark.
The above information is derived from an ITclarity research track report. To purchase a subscription to Tolly Research's ITclarity service, click here.
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Recent tests examining the throughput scalability and load-balancing characteristics of a trio of Intel server adapters housed in a single server resulted in repeated catastrophic server failures under heavily loaded conditions.
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