Technical data

DATA CENTER and CAMPUS NETWORKS DEPLOYMENT GUIDE
Deploying Brocade Networks with Microsoft Lync Server 2010 25 of 52
We recommend having at least 2 × 1 GbE ports per LAG at a minimum, to allow for redundancy when connecting
your access switch to your aggregate switch layer. Once your LAG has been created, analyze your network to make
sure that you do not have congestion on your LAGs. If congestion does occur, add more ports to the LAG to alleviate
the congestion. The same recommendations hold true if you have 10 GbE in place. Most Brocade switches have the
option for 10 GbE ports.
It is also recommended that you create a Network Interface Card (NIC) team on the Microsoft Lync Server
2010. The team creates redundancy if a NIC adapter fails. If possible, connect the NIC team to two
separate switches to eliminate a single point of failure.
When setting up a dynamic LAG, Brocade recommends that you disable or remove the cables from the ports
that you plan to enable for dynamic link aggregation. Doing so prevents the possibility that LACP will use a
partial configuration to talk to the other side of a link. A partial configuration does not cause errors, but
does sometimes require LACP to be disabled and re-enabled on both sides of the link to ensure that a full
configuration is used. It is easier to disable a port or remove its cable first. This applies to both active link
aggregation and passive link aggregation.
Figure 7. Example of multiple LAGs between access and aggregation layers.
High Availability for Load Balancing
A Microsoft Lync Server 2010 enterprise pool consisting of more than one Front End Server requires a hardware load
balancer. If you are deploying Standard Edition or a single Enterprise Edition Front End Server, a load balancer is not
required. A hardware load balancer is also required for arrays of Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Servers or an
array of Standard Edition Servers configured as a Director. The requirements are summarized in Tables 4 and 5.
Table 4. Microsoft Recommended Hardware Load Balancer Requirements
Deployment
Load Balancer Requirement
A single Standard Edition Server
Load balancer not required
Enterprise pool with multiple Front End Servers
Hardware load balancer required
Array of Directors
Hardware load balancer required
Array of Edge Servers
Hardware load balancer required