Bruce again, Day 17 and I’m going strong.  Tonight I am learning NIC Teaming and SMB Multichannel.    Finally we have NIC teaming as part of the Windows Server 2012.   As long as your Ethernet Adapter meet the Windows Logo requirements we support NIC Teaming on them.  We also have another new technology SMB Multichannel which will allows you to aggregate NICs for SMB traffic.  Here are some facts I discovered.

  • SMB Multichannel require both the client and server to support SMB 3.0
  • SMB Multichannel is on by default on Windows Server 2012
  • NIC teaming is faster for failover
  • NIC teaming handles non-SMB traffic
  • NIC teaming is NOT compatible with RDMA NICs
  • SMB Multichannel support RDMA NICs

Below are some links to help you learn about NIC Teaming and SMB Multichannel

NIC Teaming Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831648.aspx

Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming (LBFO) Deployment and Management

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30160

Microsoft Virtual Academy: NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/microsoft-virtual-academy-nic-teaming-in-windows-server-2012.aspx

Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming and Multichannel Solutions

http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/2012/WSV314#fbid=Yesz_YUD4Lk

Improve Performance of a File Server with SMB Direct (RDMA)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134210