Vnic Teaming Failover - Lenovo RackSwitch G8264 Application Manual

vNIC Teaming Failover

Port 1 link failure automatically
disables associated server ports,
prompting failover on all VMs
© Copyright Lenovo 2016
For NIC failover in a non‐virtualized environment, when a service group's uplink
ports fail or are disconnected, the switch disables the affected group's server ports,
causing the server to failover to the backup NIC and switch.
However, in a virtualized environment, disabling the affected server ports would
disrupt all vNIC pipes on those ports, not just those that have lost their uplinks (see
Figure 29).
Figure 29. Regular Failover in a Virtualized Environment
Primary
Switch
X
VNIC
Group 1
Port 1
VNIC
Group 2
Port 2
To avoid disrupting vNICs that have not lost their uplinks, ENOS 8.4 and the
Emulex Virtual Fabric Adapter provide vNIC‐aware failover. When a vNIC
group's uplink ports fail, the switch cooperates with the affected NIC to prompt
failover only on the appropriate vNICs. This allows the vNICs that are not affected
by the failure to continue without disruption (see Figure 30 on page
Virtual
NIC
Pipes
VNIC
X VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
Port 10
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
X
VNIC
VNIC
Port 11
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
VNIC
NIC
To Backup
Switch
Servers
Hypervisor
vSwitch
VM 1
VM 2
vSwitch
VM 3
VM 4
Hypervisor
332).
Chapter 19: Virtual NICs
331