Microsoft NLB Support

[TheCount]

We have a customer who is asking if the A5500 and A5800 support Microsoft NLB, can some one please tell me if this is now supported on these products and if it is not when this is likely to be supported ?

if there are A series products that support it then which ones please ?

Thanks In adavance :)

[Fredrik Lönnman]

If you can explain the technical requirements for beeing "Microsoft NLB supported" i guess you'll get more answers.

[showneek · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I have feedback from HP technical people that Microsoft NLB multicast is supported on A5800 in firmware release R1206.

...

The latest update with the Microsoft NLB Multicast mode supported on A series products:

A12500/A9500: roadmap as Q1CY2011

A7500: R6613/R6616 (both official release) !!!A7500 has released firmware that support NLB. The version after 661X will support MNLB feature. Please note you have to use SD and EB type of linecards!!!

A5800: F1205

...

This infomartion is about a half year old so maybe they added this feature to other switches in the A family, but I don't know. Just try to check release notes if you need. On E-series switches think that this is supported only on ProVision ASIC switches (E3500yl, E5400zl, E8200zl, E6200yl, E6600).

Regards

Jan

[TheCount]

Thanks Showneek , much appreciated

[MichaelM55]

Interesting, do you have any hints whether other switches will have NLB support?

What about A5500 EI / A5500 SI or A5120 EI / A5120 SI?

[dcampregher]

HI,

The support is OK. But it  work with NLB, i find only workarround for this case...

[MichaelM55]

From A5500-EI manual:

Multicast ARP configuration example
Network requirements
As shown in Figure 5, a small data center uses Microsoft multicast-mode NLB. To enable the switches to cooperate with NLB, configure the following:

·           Add GigabitEthernet 1/0/2 and GigabitEthernet 1/0/3 into VLAN 1, and specify IP address 16.1.1.30/24 for VLAN-interface 1. 

·           Add GigabitEthernet 1/0/1 and GigabitEthernet 1/0/4 into VLAN 2, and specify IP address 17.1.1.1/24 for VLAN-interface 2. 

·           Specify 17.1.1.1/24 as the default gateway of Host A and Host B. 

·           Specify 16.1.1.30/24 as the default gateway of Server A and Server B.

·           Disable the ARP entry check function so that the switch can learn dynamic ARP entries containing multicast MAC addresses.

·           Configure a static multicast MAC address entry so that only interfaces GigabitEthernet 1/0/2 and GigabitEthernet 1/0/3 can receive multicast information.

Figure 5 Network diagram



 

Configuration procedure
 

 
 NOTE:

·       This example only describes multicast ARP configuration on the switch. For NLB configuration on the servers, see the related documents of the Windows Server.

·       This configuration example is only applicable to multicast NLB. It assumes that the virtual IP address of Server A and Server B is 16.1.1.100/24, and the virtual MAC address is 03bf-1001-0164.
 

 

·           Configure the switch

# Specify an IP address for VLAN-interface 2.

<Switch> system-view

[Switch] vlan 2

[Switch-vlan2] port GigabitEthernet 1/0/4

[Switch-vlan2] port GigabitEthernet 1/0/1

[Switch-vlan2] quit

[Switch] interface vlan-interface 2

[Switch-Vlan-interface2] ip address 17.1.1.1 255.255.255.0

[Switch-Vlan-interface2] quit

# Specify an IP address for VLAN-interface 1.

[Switch] interface vlan-interface 1

[Switch-Vlan-interface1] ip address 16.1.1.30 255.255.255.0

[Switch-Vlan-interface1] quit

# Disable the ARP entry check function. 

[Switch] undo arp check enable

# Configure a static multicast MAC address entry.

[Switch] mac-address multicast 03bf-1001-0164 interface GigabitEthernet 1/0/2 Gigabi

tEthernet 1/0/3 vlan 1

Verification
·           NLB load sharing: Enable the FTP server function of Server A and Server B. Host A and Host B send requests to the virtual IP address and each of them logs in to a different server. 

·           NLB redundancy: Disable the network interface card of Server A. Host A and Host B send requests to the virtual IP address and both log in to the FTP server on Server B.

 

 

[dcampregher]

Hi,

The solution in the manual above not work. The access of the cluster is unstable after the configuration is applied.

[Fred_Mancen_1]

Microsoft NLB can work in two different ways: unicast and multicast. If the NLB is working in multicast mode, so the only thing you have to do is to configure a static multicast mac-address entry in each port that the server is connected to, as a static ARP resolution to the virtual IP and MAC address of the NLB.

At the other hand, there was a limitation - in most of players, not only 3Com/H3C/HP, just to let you know - that this feature works fine only at L2, when there is routing involved, it works unstable.

If the NLB is working in unicast mode, you can enter the command undo arp check enable, that actually disable the MAC Address learning in the ports, forcing the switch to act as a hub - what is a poor workaround.

An alternative is if the server could be configured in a aggregated mode, so the solution can work smoothly aggregating the ports manually in static mode, using Bridge-aggregation feature.

As you mentioned that the server was unstable, it seems that the NLB feature is working in multicast mode, what it means that the routing among VLANs - if needed - must be done by another switch, instead the one that the server with NLB is directly attached.

I don't know if I was clear, but I already faced the same problem before, and the solution was to attach the NLB server to a switch working at L2 and setup the inter-VLAN routing in another switch.

HTH

[dcampregher]

HI,

Th problem is: The supervisor is a SA, where only EB and SD card supports Multicas ARP.