NIC Teaming allows adding up the throughput of multiple network adapters present on the server as a single network adapter. There are two types of NIC Teaming available, one is Switch Dependent and the other one is Switch Independent. In Switch Independent NIC Teaming, the network switch need not be aware of the network team and different adapters can connect to different network switch. This make the NIC Teaming a lot flexible to implement. Windows Server 2012 R2 supports the Switch Independent NIC Teaming, making it a good choice for smaller organizations with relatively limited network resources.

You can follow the steps mentioned bellow to implement the Switch Independent NIC Teaming on your Windows 2012 R2 server.

  1. Access the server only through IPMI / ILOM and KVM console. Server will loose existing network adapter configuration while adding them to a Network Team.
  2. On a Windows 2012 R2 server, go to Server Manager and click on Local Server in the left pane.
  3. In Local Server, click the NIC Teaming option to configure the Teaming.


  4. On NIC Teaming window click on New Team from the drop down TASKS menu of the TEAMS pane at the bottom left.

  5. Now given a Name for the network team and select the Adapters to be added to it and click Ok.

  6. After some activity, both the network adapter will show Active and NIC Team will show Ok status with Green colored symbols.

  7. A new Network teamed adapter will appear in the list of network adapters. Configure IP address for it and start using the server


    Your server is now configured to use NIC Teaming and ready.