Configuring NIC teaming in Windows Server Core or Hyper-V Server isn’t as easy as it sounds from the command line. What’s good is that BACS runs on Core if you just install .Net framework 2.0 (dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX2-ServerCore). After installation of BACS you can then start BACS from c:program filesBroadcomBACSbacs.exe. That eliminates the need for CLI and gives you a nice graphical application…
But for scripting purposes or the hardcore CLI admin this won’t do, you want the BACScli!
What kind of teams does BACS support?
Smart Load Balance and Failover
In this type of team, a standby member handles the traffic if all of the load balance members fail (a failover event). All load balance members have to fail before the standby member takes over. When one or more of the load balance members is restored (fallback), the restored team member(s) resumes the handling of the traffic. The LiveLink feature is supported for this type of team.
Link Aggregation (802.3ad)
In this type of team, you can dynamically configure the network adapters that have been selected to participate in a given team. If the link partner is not correctly configured for IEEE 802.3ad link configuration, errors are detected and noted. All adapters in the team are configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. The outbound load balancing scheme is determined by the BASP driver. The link partner of the team determines the load balancing scheme for inbound packets. In this mode, at least one of the link partners must be in active mode.
NOTE: TOE is not applicable for Link Aggregation team type. NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is not supported for Link Aggregation team type.
Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static
This type of team is very similar to the link aggregation type, in that all adapters in the team must be configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. This mode does not provide link aggregation control protocol (LACP) or marker protocol support. This mode supports a variety of environments where the link partners are statically configured to support a proprietary trunking mechanism. Trunking supports load balancing and failover for both outbound and inbound traffic.
NOTE: TOE is not applicable for Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static team type. NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is not supported for Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static team type.
Disable iSCSI
As you can see above you’ll need to disable iSCSI for this type of team. To do this with BACScli, run the following:
BACScli.exe -t vbd -f mac -i 0015c5f9d79b “cfg Resource “ISCSI”=”Disable””
Note the double quotes!
SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable)
This team is identical to Smart Load Balance and Failover, with the following exception: when the standby member is active, if a primary member comes back online, the team continues using the standby member rather than switching back to the primary member. This type of team is supported only for situations in which the network cable is disconnected and reconnected to the network adapter. It is not supported for situations in which the adapter is removed/installed through Device Manager or Hot-Plug PCI. If any primary adapter assigned to a team is disabled, the team functions as a Smart Load Balancing and Failover type of team in which auto-fallback occurs. The LiveLink feature is supported for this type of team.
Creating teams
To create teams you’ll need a configuration file (or know how to write one yourself).
The answer file for a load balancing team without standby looks like this:
name: Team 1
type: 0
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
So what’s in that file?
Starting from the top:
Name: Team 1 <- The name of your team
Type: 0 <- There are three different types:
0 = Load Balacing
1 = Generic Trunk
2 = Link Aggregation
pnic: 03:00.0 <- pnic = Primary. In the examples below there’s also snic = Secondary. The numbers are the PCI-position of the NIC.
So how do you find out which PCI-position your NICs have? The command below will list all devices in your system:
BACScli -bdf
BDF is the Bus:Device.Function of the NIC. For example, if the NIC has bus number of 5, device number of 0 and function number of 1, use “-bdf 5:0.1” to select the NIC for the command to execute on.
If you have servers that you’d like to script installation and such you could export a configuration either from the GUI or with the help of BACScli: BACScli -t team “save -f BDF c:tempteaming.bcg”
Once it’s exported you can create your team by importing the configuration:
BACScli -t team “restore c:tmpteaming.bcg”
Please note that the configuration files contains the PCI-position of your NICs so if your servers aren’t configured identically it won’t work. You could of course script it, detecting the nics and dynamically creating the configuration file. After all, it’s just text.
There are a bunch of different types of teams, below is a list of how the configuration files look if you don’t feel like doing the research:
Generic trunk without VLAN
name: Team 1
type: 1
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
Generic trunk with VLAN
name: Team 1
type: 1
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
vname: VLAN 1
vid: 1
Link aggregation with VLAN
name: Team 1
type: 2
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
vname: VLAN 1
vid: 0
Load balancing without standby
name: Team 1
type: 0
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
Load balacing with standby
name: Team 1
type: 0
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
snic: 08:00.0
Load balancing with LiveLink
name: Team 1
type: 0
target_ip: 172.16.4.15
target_ip: 172.16.0.1
retry: 5
freq: 2000
retry_freq: 1000
livelink_vid: 0
pnic: 03:00.0
livelink_ip: 172.16.9.88
pnic: 05:00.0
livelink_ip: 172.16.9.89
Link aggregation without VLAN
name: Team 1
type: 2
pnic: 03:00.0
pnic: 05:00.0
If you’re scripting this you’ll find the exit codes for BACSCLI below:
| BACSCLI_OK | 0 | Upgrade firmware OK |
| BACSCLI_QUIT | 1 | Quit program |
| BACSCLI_PARAM_ERROR | 2 | Not correct parameters |
| BACSCLI_ADAPTER_NOT_FOUND | 3 | Adapter not found |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_LOCK_ADAPTER | 4 | Cannot lock adapter |
| BACSCLI_GET_CLOSE_EVENT | 5 | Get close event |
| BACSCLI_INIT_FAILED | 6 | Initialization failed |
| BACSCLI_UNSUPPORTED_BMAPI_VER | 7 | BMAPI is too old |
| BACSCLI_UNKNOWN_COMMAND | 8 | Unknown command |
| BACSCLI_MALLOC_ERROR | 9 | memory allocation error |
| BACSCLI_BMAPI_ERROR | 10 | BMAPI call returns error |
| BACSCLI_OS_NOT_SUPPORTED | 11 | OS is not supported |
| BACSCLI_NO_ADVANCED_PARAMS | 12 | No Advanced Parameter for the NIC |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_ADVANCED_PARAM_DETECTED | 13 | Invalid Advanced Parameter detected |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_ADVANCED_PARAM_SPECIFIED | 14 | Invalid Advanced Parameter specified |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_ADVANCED_VALUE_SPECIFIED | 15 | Invalid Advanced Value specified |
| BACSCLI_FEATURE_NOT_SUPPORTED_FOR_NIC | 16 | Feature not supported for the NIC |
| BACSCLI_SET_ADVANCED_PARAM_ERROR | 17 | Failed to set the Advanced Parameter with new value |
| BACSCLI_SYSTEM_REBOOT | 18 | System Reboot required |
| BACSCLI_UNSUPPORT_PLATFORM | 19 | System platform is not supported |
| BACSCLI_NOT_ENOUGH_PRIVILEGE | 20 | Current user does not have enough privilege |
| BACSCLI_READ_LICENSE_FILE_ERROR | 21 | Error in reading license file |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_LICENSE_KEY | 22 | Invalid license key |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_ISCSI_PARAM_SPECIFIED | 23 | Invalid iSCSI Management Parameter specified |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_ISCSI_VALUE_SPECIFIED | 24 | Invalid iSCSI Management Value specified |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_RSC_PARAM_SPECIFIED | 25 | Invalid Resource Parameter specified |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_RSC_VALUE_SPECIFIED | 26 | Invalid Resource Value specified |
| BACSCLI_FEATURE_NOT_SUPPORTED_IN_FCFS | 27 | Feature not supported in FCFS mode |
| BACSCLI_PARAM_IS_READ_ONLY | 28 | This parameter can’t be modified, Administrator authority required. |
| BACSCLI_NULL_IP_ADDRESS | 29 | The current IP address is NULL. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_UNLOCK_ADAPTER | 30 | Failed to unlock adapter. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_VALUE_SPECIFIED | 31 | Invalid value specified |
| BACSCLI_NIC_IS_PART_OF_GEC_LACP_TEAM | 32 | NIC is part of a GEC/LACP Team. |
| BACSCLI_REGISTRY_ACCESS_ERROR | 33 | Error in accessing Registry. |
| BACSCLI_NOT_AN_ISCSI_BOOT_DEVICE | 34 | This is not an iSCSI Boot device. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_IP_ADDRESS | 35 | Invalid IP Address. |
| BACSCLI_DUPLICATE_IP_ADDRESS | 36 | Duplicate IP Address. |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_DRIVER_NOT_LOAD | 37 | nic( %s ) driver has to be loaded to make it a member of a team. |
| BACSCLI_NDIS6_DRIVER_REQUIRED | 38 | Ndis6 driver is required for the NIC to join the Team in Windows Vista and later. |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_UNKNOW_NIC | 39 | Unknown NIC ( %s ). |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_SUBNET_MASK | 40 | Invalid subnet mask. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_CMD | 41 | Invalid command. |
| BACSCLI_NOT_YET_IMPL | 1000 | This functionality is not yet implemented. |
| BACSCLI_UNWIND | 1001 | Unwind to the parent processor |
| BACSCLI_NOT_APPLICABLE | 1002 | Command not applicable |
| BACSCLI_NO_TARGET_SEL | 1003 | No active target selection. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_CONTEXT | 1004 | Not a valid context |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_FORMAT | 1005 | Invalid format selection |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_TARGET_ID | 1006 | Invalid target identifier |
| BACSCLI_FILE_DOES_NOT_EXIST | 1007 | File does not exist |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_TEAM_NAME | 1008 | Supplied team name is invalid |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_COMMIT_FAILED | 1009 | Failed to commit the team operation. |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_REMOVE_FAILED | 1010 | Failed to remove the team. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_OPEN_FILE | 1011 | Failed to open the file handle. |
| BACSCLI_ERR_CANNOT_SET_IPADDR | 1012 | Failed to set ip address. |
| BACSCLI_ERR_CANNOT_GET_NIC_PCI_INFO | 1013 | Failure retrieving NIC information |
| BACSCLI_ERR_RETRIEVE_IP_ADDR | 1014 | Error retrieving IP address information |
| BACSCLI_FAILED_GET_INFO | 1015 | Failed to get info from the DataContainer |
| BACSCLI_WRONG_OPTION_FLAG | 1016 | General team config file parsing error. |
| BACSCLI_EXCEEDMAXVLAN | 1017 | Only a maximum of 64 VLANs are allowed. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_CREATE_LIVE_LINK | 1018 | Live link support only applied to SLB team |
| BACSCLI_EXCEED_MAX_TARGET_IP | 1019 | Live link support allows up to 4 link |
| BACSCLI_TOO_MANY_PHY_NIC | 1020 | Only up to a maximum of 8 nics are allowed in a team. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_CREATE_FECGEC_8023AD | 1021 | Cannot create FECGEC or 802.3ad team with standby adapter. |
| BACSCLI_LL_IP_TARGET_IP_TYPE_MISMATCH | 1022 | Invalid IPv6 Address |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_RANGE | 1023 | Value is out of range. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_INTERVAL | 1024 | Invalid probe retry frequency |
| BACSCLI_DUPLICATE_OPTION | 1025 | The same option has been specified previously. |
| BACSCLI_DUPLICATE_MAC_ADDRESS | 1026 | Duplicate adapter physical MAC address |
| BACSCLI_DUPLICATE_VLANID | 1027 | Duplicate VLAN name |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_ALREADY_EXISTS | 1028 | Team with the specified name already exists |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_MATCH_MAC_ADDR | 1030 | Cannot find device using the specified MAC address. |
| BACSCLI_NO_TEAM_TO_CONFIG | 1031 | No team to configure. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_CREATE_TEAM | 1032 | Failure while creating team |
| BACSCLI_NO_LINK_FOR_IP_CFG | 1033 | No link is present in team to set ip address. |
| BACSCLI_ONE_OR_MORE_CREATE_FAILED | 1034 | Creation of one or more teams failed. |
| BACSCLI_TEAM_NO_MEMBER | 1035 | A team is required to have at least one valid member. |
| BACSCLI_NO_BRCM_NIC_IN_TEAM | 1036 | Team requires at least one Broadcom nic. |
| BACSCLI_ONLY_BROADCOM_NIC_FOR_VLAN | 1037 | Only Broadcom certified adapters are supported in VLAN. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_SET_IPADDR | 1038 | Failed to assign ip address on the virtual adapter. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_CFG | 1039 | Invalid configuration |
| BACSCLI_SET_ADVANCE_PARAM_FAILED | 1040 | Failed to set advanced parameter |
| BACSCLI_INTERNAL_ERROR_INVALID_DATA | 1041 | Invalid or NULL data found |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_PARAMETER | 1042 | Invalid Parameter. Parameter is too few |
| BACSCLI_NIC_NOT_SUPPORTED | 1043 | The current NIC is not supported for this operation. |
| BACSCLI_SET_ASF_FAILED | 1044 | Failed to set the ASF Table |
| BACSCLI_SET_POWER_MGMT_FAILED | 1045 | Failed to set Power Management configuration. |
| BACSCLI_INVALID_TARGET_CMD | 1046 | command/target identifier is invalid |
| BACSCLI_NO_ISCSI_SESSIONS | 1047 | No iSCSI sessions exists on the system |
| BACSCLI_SET_MGMT_OBJ_FAILED | 1048 | Failed to set Management Object |
| BACSCLI_SHOW_USAGE | 1049 | If we want to show usage |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_CONNECT_WMI | 1050 | Cannot connect WMI |
| BACSCLI_EXCEEDMAXTAGGEDVLAN | 1051 | Only a maximum of 63 tagged VLANs are allowed. |
| BACSCLI_NO_TEAM_AVALIABLE | 1052 | There is no team to save. |
| BACSCLI_NOT_CONFIGURABLE | 1053 | Not Configurable. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_SUSPEND_RESUME_DRIVER | 1054 | Failed to suspend or resume the driver. |
| BACSCLI_CANNOT_RESTART_DRIVER | 1055 | Failed to restart the driver. |