PowerEdge System Components

Network Interface Cards Overview

Installation of multiple network adapters permits teaming. Teaming has several benefits over using a single adapter, including:

• Fault Tolerance, which ensures that if one adapter fails, the server will remain available to the network by using another adapter.

• Load Balancing, which allows multiple adapters to share large data loads, preventing one adapter from being overwhelmed.

• Link Aggregation, the combining of multiple adapters into one channel to provide greater bandwidth for the network traffic that passes through the server.

The preferred method of configuring teaming is by using the appropriate utility provided by the manufacturer of the network controller, either Broadcom or Intel.