Search Our Support Knowledge Base

Find product articles and support information.

My Cloud Supported Network Interface Card (NIC) Link Aggregation Modes


Link Aggregation

 

Increases throughput, adds redundancy by putting two or more Ethernet connections together so that they act as one.
One connection will be active if the other port or cable fail.
Two or more Ethernet ports are needed.
 

Supported Modes

  • Round Robin
    Load balancing and fault tolerance.
    It sends data on all ports in sequential order but receives data on any available port. The data at the destination may be received out of order and will need to be fixed to the correct order. This can slow throughput as the data is fixed at the destination.

  • Active Backup (default setting)
    Fault tolerance only.
    Only one NIC is used. The other one is held in reserve until the first one fails, then it will take over.

  • Balance XOR
    Load balancing and fault tolerance.
    Data is sent based on the source MAC addresses with a logic XOR using the destination MAC address. This sets it so that the same network port will always be used for each destination.

  • Broadcast
    Fault tolerance.
    Data is sent on all network connections.

  • 802.3ad
    Also called IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation or LACP.
    Creates groups of NICs with identical speed and duplex settings.

  • Adaptive Transmit Load Balancing
    Data is spread across similar NICs. The data is received by a single designated NIC. A NIC takes over if the primary one failes and assumes it's MAC address.

  • Adaptive Load Balancing
    Load balancing and fault tolerance.
    Uses ARP negotiation to load balance. Each NIC must be plugged into a different network switch.

  • OFF
    Two separately configurable NICs.
Details
Answer ID 25206
Published 12/22/2018 02:35 AM
Updated 04/02/2025 08:11 AM

Please rate the helpfulness of this answer