adaptive load balancing and spanning tree protocol

[tanelorn26]

Greetings,

I'm asking a technical question about using Intel's advanced networking service (ANS) features, specifically Adaptive load balancing with spanning tree protocol (STP) on an Enterasys M7 switch.

my win2k Sp4 fully patched server has dual intel PILA8470b nics running windows 2000 with the latest drivers.

All of the docs that I've read say that spanning tree should be disabled on the switch. Due to our network topology (a dual redundant fddi fibre ring) spanning tree needs to be enabled for the fibre fail-over to work.

The Docs for intel's ANS say that spanning tree should be disabled but they don't say why, and they don't say what the ramifications are of having STP enabled.

all that being said, here are the questions.

1. why do they say to disable STP.

and,

2, what are the ramifications of leaving SPT enables while using the Adaptive Load Balancing feature of ANS.

Thanks

Fred Dussault

 

[breader]

My guesss is that if STP is inabled the switch will effectively disable one of your NIC's and you will not have load balancing