What is Switch Embedded Teaming in Windows Server 2016?

Q. What is Switch Embedded Teaming?

A. Traditionally teaming native to Windows has been done through LBFO (Load Balancer Fail Over) where multiple NICs are grouped together into a team (up to 32 NICs which can be of different types) and that resultant teamed adapter is used by a Hyper-V switch (or other uses). Traditional LBFO teaming is not compatible with RDMA nor SDNv2 and the Virtual Filtering Platform (VFP) that powers SDNv2.

Switch Embedded Teaming (SET) is a new technology in Windows Server 2016 which allows multiple network adapters to be joined together within the vSwitch itself without utilizing LBFO teaming. SET enables up to 8 adapters to be joined together but they must all be identical in terms of make, model, driver and firmware. The idea behind SET is that these will be 10 Gbps or bigger NICs and so 8 should be more than enough for anyone.

A huge benefit of SET over LBFO is that SET enables the NICs to run as converged which means the NICs support regular IP traffic in addition to RDMA. Prior to Windows Server 2016 it is necessary to have two separate sets of NICs. One set to use with vSwitch and another set to use with RDMA. Now the same NICs can be used with both.