Load balancing overlay network traffic using a teamed set of network interface cards

Abstract

A system includes a server including: logic adapted for receiving traffic from a virtual machine (VM), the traffic including at least one packet, logic adapted for hashing at least a portion of the at least one packet according to a hashing algorithm to obtain a hash value, and logic adapted for selecting an uplink based on the hash value; at least one accelerated network interface card (NIC), each accelerated NIC including: network ports including multiple Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) ports adapted for communicating with the server and a network, each network port including an uplink, logic adapted for encapsulating the at least one packet into an overlay-encapsulated packet, logic adapted for storing a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the selected uplink as a source MAC (SMAC) address in an outer header of the overlay-encapsulated packet, and logic adapted for sending the overlay-encapsulated packet via the selected uplink.