Network Teaming adapter fails to initialize

[R2D2_1]

Hi,

We use NFT with preference order teaming on Proliant DL385 servers. When the server is restarted with only one LAN port physically connected to the switch, the Teaming adapter fails to initialize (it tries to acquire an IP address via DHCP instead of using it's configured fixed IP address!?).

The OS is Windows Server 2003 R2 and the network configuration utility version is 8.37 (also tried 8.35).
Switches are Cisco 2960 and 3750, speed/duplex settings fixed to 1000/full on both switch and network adapted.

pls advise

[Connery]

R2D2,
Did you set the static IP on the Local Area Connection for the virtual NIC that was created after you setup the team? It's called "HP Network Team #xxx" under "Device Name" in "Network Connections".

If you set a static IP on the physical NIC itself, that static setting is NOT used by the team. That static setting is only used if that physical NIC is removed from the team.

Best Regards,
OB1

[Gus Kwong]

hummmm... I thought once you have teamed by using the HP Teaming the IP setting is lost and the TCP/IP for physical adaptors get greyed out, and only the teamed "logical" NIC can be configured with an IP address.

Anyway back to the original issue --- How did you team your NICs? What is the topology? I assume PSP is installed?

I guess if NIC teaming is based on the MAC address, and you only unplug the 2nd NIC within a minute for testing just before the reboot, then the Cisco switch would have an entry on its MAC table and may prevent the 1st NIC to re-advertise the logical MAC address in order to reclaim itself as the source. If that is the case, try clear mac-address-table on your switch.


There has been discussion recently and may be ideal to have a look

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1036761

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1014438&admit=-682735245+1155162179288+28353475

[Connery]

Yes, Guss, once you team the physical NIC it doesn't have TCP/IP directly bound and won't let you make IP configuration changes. However, some customers configure a static IP on the physical NIC BEFORE they team it and they assume the static configuration gets adopted by the team. Hence my explanation to R2D2.

About the MAC/CAM address table...
I'm not sure how an erroneous/stale CAM table entry would cause a NIC in a server to switch from a static IP configuration to using DHCP. I could see a stale CAM entry causing DHCP to timeout and then the NIC would fall back to Microsoft's auto IP, but not the other way around.

[R2D2_1]

Hi gents, tnx for your replies..

Just to clarify things a bit more:
We use PSP 5.51.
The Teaming adapter (fault tolerance with preference order) is configured with a fixed IP address. The protocol bindings on the physical adapters are indeed grayed out (like it should).
No change in behaviour when enabling/disabling portfast on the Cisco switch.
We can reproduce this error on all our servers: just remove one network cable and restart the server and the teaming adapter seams to switch to DHCP mode (although it doesn't get/ask an IP address... the status remains on 'acquiring IP address' forever).
When manually disabling/enabling the teaming adapter (using Windows), it all works fine again (until the next reboot).

Another thing I discovered. It only happens when disconnecting the least preferred NIC!