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Communications Server or Lync Server and network adapter teaming

Article ID: 2478464 - View products that this article applies to.

Summary

Network adapter teaming offers the ability to provide highly available network connections to servers. To achieve this network adapter teaming drivers bind several physical network adapters and present them as a single logical network card to a Windows server operating system. Microsoft supports Office Communications Server (OCS) and Lync Server deployments that use network adapter teaming. Microsoft does not test third party vendor network adapter teaming configurations, nor does Microsoft provide troubleshooting and debugging for third party vendor teaming drivers.

Guidelines for deploying OCS and Lync Server with third party vendor network adapter teaming:

Update the network adapter drivers to the latest available version from the manufacturer.
Strictly follow the configuration recommendations of the network adapter teaming manufacturer. Contact the vendor to verify they have tested their network adapter teaming drivers for OCS or Lync Server deployments and provide specific configuration recommendations.
If network connectivity or performance issues occur on an OCS or Lync Server that has third party vendor network adapter teaming enabled, Microsoft may ask a customer to turn off the network adapter teaming to see whether the issue is resolved. If Microsoft determines that third party vendor network adapter teaming is the root cause of the issue, Microsoft will ask the customer to contact the network adapter teaming vendor for additional analysis.

Guidelines for deploying Lync Server with Windows Server 2012 NIC teaming load balancing and failover (LBFO):

Lync Server is supported with Windows Server 2012 NIC teaming load balancing and failover (LBFO)
If network connectivity or performance issues occur on a Lync Server that has Windows Server 2012 LBFO enabled, Microsoft may ask a customer to turn off the LBFO teaming to see whether the issue is resolved. If Microsoft determines that Windows Server 2012 LBFO is the root cause of the issue, Microsoft will refer the customer to Windows Server 2012 support for assistance.

More information

For detailed information on network adapter teaming for Office Communications Server and Lync Server visit the following Microsoft websites:

Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Overview

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

Network adapter teaming and server clustering

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254101)

Microsoft support policy for NIC Teaming with Hyper-V

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968703)

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Server Hardware Platforms

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398835.aspx)

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 recommended hardware

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398835.aspx)

Hardware requirements for Office Communications Server 2007 R2

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd572817(office.13).aspx)

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 server hardware requirements