Users Guide

12–Marvell Teaming Services
General Network Considerations
Doc No. BC0054508-00 Rev. R
January 21, 2021 Page 172 Copyright © 2021 Marvell
Preboot Execution Environment
The preboot execution environment (PXE) allows a system to boot from an
operating system image over the network. By definition, PXE is invoked before an
operating system is loaded, so there is no opportunity for the driver to load and
enable a team. As a result, teaming is not supported as a PXE client, though a
physical adapter that participates in a team when the operating system is loaded
may be used as a PXE client. Whereas a teamed adapter cannot be used as a
PXE client, it can be used for a PXE server, which provides operating system
images to PXE clients using a combination of dynamic host control protocol
(DHCP) and the trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP). Both of these protocols
operate over IP and are supported by all teaming modes.
General Network Considerations
General network considerations include:
 Teaming with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
 Teaming Across Switches
 Spanning Tree Algorithm
 Layer 3 Routing and Switching
 Teaming with Hubs (for Troubleshooting Purposes Only)
 Teaming with Microsoft Network Load Balancing
Teaming with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
The only supported QLASP team configuration when using Microsoft Virtual
Server 2005 is with a Smart Load Balancing team-type consisting of a single
primary Marvell adapter and a standby Marvell adapter. Make sure to unbind or
deselect “Virtual Machine Network Services” from each team member prior to
creating a team and prior to creating virtual networks with Microsoft Virtual Server.
Additionally, create a virtual network in this software and subsequently bound to
the virtual adapter created by a team. Directly binding a guest operating system to
a team virtual adapter may not render the results that you want.
NOTE
Microsoft recommends using their in-OS NIC teaming service instead of any
adapter vendor-proprietary NIC teaming driver on Windows Server 2012 and
later. Marvell's NIC teaming driver is not supported on Windows Server 2016
and later.