Teaming

Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2 and 2016 support teaming as part of the operating system for Ethernet interfaces. However, teaming is not supported for InfiniBand adapters when using these OSes. Teaming for IPoIB is supported only when using the WinOF driver.

IPoIB teaming is supported in all operating systems supported by WinOF

InfiniBand adapter teaming can group a set of interfaces inside a network adapter or a number of physical network adapters into a virtual interface that provides the fault-tolerance function. The fault-tolerance teaming type is the only mode supported in adapter teaming. The non-active interfaces in a team are in a standby mode and will take over the network traffic in the event of a link failure in the active interface. Only one interface is active at any given time.
Note: For InfiniBand, the only teaming mode supported is failover.

Teaming is used to take over packet indications and information requests if the primary network interface fails.

The following steps describe the process of creating a team.

1. Display the Device Manager.

   

2. Right-click one of Mellanox ConnectX IPoIB adapters (under “Network adapters” list) and left click Properties. Select the Teaming tab from the Properties window.

   Warning

   It is not recommended to open the Properties window of more than one adapter simultaneously.

   The Teaming dialog enables creating, modifying or removing a team.

   Warning

   Only Mellanox Technologies adapters can be part of the team.

To create a new team, perform the following:

1. Click Create.

2. Enter a (unique) team name.

3. Select the adapters to be included in the team.

4. [Optional] Select Primary Adapter.
   An InfiniBand team implements an active-passive scenario where only one interface is active at any given time. When the active one is disconnected, one of the other interfaces becomes active. When the primary link comes up, the team interface returns to transfer data using the primary interface. If the primary adapter is not selected, the primary interface is selected randomly.

5. [Optional] Failback to Primary.
   This checkbox specifies the team's behavior when the active adapter is not the primary one and the primary adapter becomes available (connected).

   • <Failback to Primary> checked - when the primary adapter becomes available, the team will switch to the primary even though the current active adapter can continue functioning as the active one.

   • <Failback to Primary> unchecked - when the primary adapter becomes available, the active adapter will remain active even though the primary can function as the active one.

     

The newly created virtual Mellanox adapter representing the team will be displayed by the Device Manager under “Network adapters” in the following format (see the figure below):

            

            
Mellanox Virtual Miniport Driver - Team <team_name>
        

To modify an existing team, perform the following:

1. Select the desired team and click Modify

2. Modify the team name and/or the participating adapters

3. Click the Commit button

To remove an existing team, select the desired team and click Remove. You will be prompted to approve this action.
Notes on this step:

1. Each adapter that participates in a team has two properties:
   • Status: Connected/Disconnected/Disabled
   • Role: Active or Backup

2. Each network adapter that is added or removed from a team gets refreshed (i.e. disabled then enabled). This may cause a temporary loss of connection to the adapter.

3. In case a team loses one or more network adapters by a “create” or “modify” operation, the remaining adapters in the team are automatically notified of the change.