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Re: Virtual Connect, NIC Teaming W2K8 R2 2 NIC's SLB

 
alzoo
Occasional Advisor

Virtual Connect, NIC Teaming W2K8 R2 2 NIC's SLB

Hi Everyone,

 

got the usual question about the possibility to configure NIC teaming with Windows 2008 R2 SP1,

 

I have read a couple of blogs that inform me it should be possible if I choose Switch-assisted Load Balancing with Fault Tolerance (SLB), however this option is not available to me in the HP Network configuration utility on the blade server.

  

 

So I am just wondering how can I configure my virtual connect settings to obtain the option I require?   Perhaps it is not possible due to the type of cards/server/network config/Chassis/etc.  I believe it is purely a Windows 2008 R2 software issue as in the Chassis we have a ESXi Server, a couple of Centos Linux servers and a Windows 2012 server and they can all sucessfully transmit & receive packets with nic teaming configured. 

 

Here are my choices. - I can't even set it to automatic

 

 HP TLB.PNG

 

Here are the details of my config.

Chassis c7000 FW: 4.11 Jan 16 2014

2 X HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module FW: 4.11

Server : BL460c Gen8 FW: I31 11/14/2013 (& also tested on a BL680c G7 FW: I25 07/01/2013)

iLO4  1.32 Nov 05 2013

NIC: 2 X HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLB Adapter, Driver: 
HP Emulex 10GbE Driver for Windows Server 2008 R2 (American, International)  v.10.0.430.1109,  18 Feb 2014, 0C11102 cntr FW: 4.9.416.0

HP Network Configuration Utility for Windows 2008 R2 v.10.90.0.0 26 Apr 2014

 

the two VC bays have port X5 configured as an uplink connected to the cisco switch

BAY 1 => Uplink_A => Eth101/1/8

BAY 2 => Uplink_B => Eth102/1/8

 

I have configured a separate Ethernet network for each uplink

Eth_A => Uplink_A

Eth_B => Uplink_B

 

and then in server profile I have assigned a separate network to each card.

LOM 1:1-a => Eth_A

LOM 1:2-a => Eth_B

 

Cisco interface config:

interface Ethernet102/1/8

description ***CHASSIS***  

switchport mode trunk   s

witchport trunk allowed vlan 100-140   

spanning-tree bpdufilter enable

channel-group 3

 

As you can see the port channel has not been set to LACP, so I cannot choose 802.3ad Dynamic with Fault Tolerance from the HP Utility. (even though is does not appear as a option anyway)

 

If anyone can tell me what is missing or why the other Team Type selections are not available to me in Windows 2008 R2 for this chassis/server, I would be most grateful

 

Thanks

 

2 REPLIES 2
alzoo
Occasional Advisor

Re: Virtual Connect, NIC Teaming W2K8 R2 2 NIC's SLB

Hi Again,

 

Perhaps there is a bigger issue at large as I noticed on both my test servers in the chassis, the servers are not able to obtain the NIC slot positions in the HPNUC.

 

BL460c Gen8

HP 460 nic slot.PNG

 

BL680c G7

 

HP 680 nic slot.PNG

Casper42
Respected Contributor

Re: Virtual Connect, NIC Teaming W2K8 R2 2 NIC's SLB

You cannot use Switch Assisted Trunking across 2 different VC modules.

Since the BL460 far outsells any other blade model, it was decided to just outright not support any Switch Assisted Teaming (LACP, etc) with Virtual Connect.

Use TLB or NFT instead.