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Hyper-V Virtual Switch Manager and host adapter names

We're building an HP DL380 G10 with Server 2016 as a Hyper-V host. There are 4 physical Ethernet adapters on board. I edited the friendly names of these adapters to agree numerically with the device name (which in turn agree with the physical labels on the server). See first image attached.

When I create a virtual switch however, the list of physical adapters available does not reflect the updated friendly names. See second image.

I could live with this if the 3 'numbered' adapters in the virtual switch manager were right, but they are not. The device the VSM sees as #4 is actually #3, and so on.

Is there any way to force Hyper-v to refresh these values or edit this list via the registry? I've already removed and re-added the Hyper-V role and the problem remains.
1---Host-network-adapters.png
2---Virtual-switch-manager-adapter-o.png

J0rtIT

I think that you'd need something like this:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2729523/how-to-rename-a-network-adapter-in-windows-8-or-in-windows-server-2012

2012 also applies to 2016.

Khamma1

ASKER

Thanks Jose. That's not where the issue lies though. The adapter names in control panel on the host are perfect. (image 1)

The problem is that when creating a Hyper-V virtual switch, the adapter names shown in the drop-down (image 2) don't match the adapter names in control panel.

SOLUTION

J0rtIT

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Philip Elder

We usually do something like this:

Rename-NetAdapter "Ethernet" -NewName Mgmt-1
Rename-NetAdapter "Ethernet 1" -NewName Mgmt-2
Rename-NetAdapter "Ethernet 2" -NewName vSwitch-1
Rename-NetAdapter "Ethernet 3" -NewName vSwitch-2

New-NetLbfoTeam -Name Mgmt -TeamMembers Mgmt-1,Mgmt-2

New-NetLbfoTeam -Name vSwitch -TeamMembers vSwitch-1,vSwitch-2

Then go on to create the virtual switch on that team.

With Broadcom Gigabit make sure to disable Virtual Machine Queues for all physical ports or there will be network problems.

Khamma1

ASKER

Philip,
Agreed on the VM queues. The names are fine, and I don't need teaming yet. I don't think I'm doing a good job of getting this weird situation across.

When I connect the host server to Ethernet, everything works as expected.
If I plug into the first Ethernet port on the host, Control Panel > Network Connections shows a link on Ethernet #1
This works for all 4 physical ports; they 'agree' in name with what's shown in Control Panel.

Now I create a virtual switch. I select Ethernet #4 as the port to use for External network. I connect a patch cable to physical Ethernet 4 on the host. It doesn't work... But it does on PORT #3.

Through trial and error I found the way the virtual switch manager has the ports named:
Physical port Host adapter name Name in virtual switch manager
Ethernet #1 Embedded LOM 1 Port 1 Gigabit Ethernet #2
Ethernet #2 Embedded LOM 1 Port 2 Gigabit Ethernet
Ethernet #3 Embedded LOM 1 Port 3 Gigabit Ethernet #4
Ethernet #4 Embedded LOM 1 Port 4 Gigabit Ethernet #3

No matter what I do with things like Rename-NetAdapter the names don't change in the virtual switch manager drop-down.

I don't want to put this into production with a note that says "Yeah, the virtual switch says it's connected to Ethernet #3, but it's really #4"

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Philip Elder

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