Windows Server 2008R2 Hyper-V Failover Cluster Networking Setup
Hi All,
I am hoping someone could help me understand how I should configure my NIC's in this situation.
- Windows Server 2008R2 Failover Clustering
- 2 Node Cluster
- 4 Physical NIC's on each Node
NIC #1
Role: Management
Network: 10.0.0.0/24 (Main LAN)
NIC #2
Role: Cluster Communications/Heartbeat
Network: 192.168.50.x (Private)
Cluster Network Settings: Allow Cluster Communications, Do not allow clients to connect through this network
NIC #3
Role: Live Migration
Network: 192.168.51.x (Private)
Cluster Network Settings: Allow Cluster Communications, Do not allow clients to connect through this network
NIC #4
Role: VM Network
Network: 10.0.0.0/24 (Main LAN)
Hyper-V Network Settings: External, do not allow management OS to use this connection
Cluster Network Settings: Allow both Cluster and Client communications
Now my question...
Should I leave NIC#1 as a physical adapter only for Management purposes? Or should I create another External Virtual Switch from it, but with allow management OS to use this connection?
Searching around, reading various blogs, reading technet, etc. I keep getting conflicting answers. They all agree you should have a separate physical NIC for Hyper-V Management, but some of them say to leave it ONLY to the Parent Partition, while others say to make it an External Virtual Switch.
It seems to me I should make it an External Virtual Switch as that would add another route for client communications for the cluster, but then I lose a "dedicated" management NIC. Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I am hoping someone could help me understand how I should configure my NIC's in this situation.
- Windows Server 2008R2 Failover Clustering
- 2 Node Cluster
- 4 Physical NIC's on each Node
NIC #1
Role: Management
Network: 10.0.0.0/24 (Main LAN)
NIC #2
Role: Cluster Communications/Heartbeat
Network: 192.168.50.x (Private)
Cluster Network Settings: Allow Cluster Communications, Do not allow clients to connect through this network
NIC #3
Role: Live Migration
Network: 192.168.51.x (Private)
Cluster Network Settings: Allow Cluster Communications, Do not allow clients to connect through this network
NIC #4
Role: VM Network
Network: 10.0.0.0/24 (Main LAN)
Hyper-V Network Settings: External, do not allow management OS to use this connection
Cluster Network Settings: Allow both Cluster and Client communications
Now my question...
Should I leave NIC#1 as a physical adapter only for Management purposes? Or should I create another External Virtual Switch from it, but with allow management OS to use this connection?
Searching around, reading various blogs, reading technet, etc. I keep getting conflicting answers. They all agree you should have a separate physical NIC for Hyper-V Management, but some of them say to leave it ONLY to the Parent Partition, while others say to make it an External Virtual Switch.
It seems to me I should make it an External Virtual Switch as that would add another route for client communications for the cluster, but then I lose a "dedicated" management NIC. Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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So it sounds like I should leave NIC#1 dedicated to the parent partition? And if dedicated NICs aren't needed for cluster communication I could team NICs 3 and 4 together to create a redundant physical path.
The cluster is hosting 5 VM's split on the nodes: 2 Domain Controllers, Exchange, RDS, and a Print server. So you are right, it's doubtful the NICs are extremely busy.
The consultants that setup the server created one teamed group of all 4 NICs, and attached it to a Virtual Switch. This is the only point of communication for the entire cluster and host management. Whenever we do large file transfers on one of the systems (like a Backup), a lot of our users experience poor network performance and strange delays.
So I was hoping that by splitting out the NICs into dedicated roles it would help alleviate any bottlenecks in the system when backups or other large file transfers are happening. Unless that is something unrelated, then I can open a separate question for that issue.