How Should I configure my storage adapters?

[jjohnston66]

I am setting up a Microsoft Server 2012r2 cluster running Hyper-V.  I have two Cisco 3850 switches which are power stacked and data stacked together as back end storage switches between my servers and my Nimble Storage.  I have four 1Gb connections to the storage per server.  Should I connect each adapter separately and give each an IP for ISCSI storage or should I team them using Microsoft Switch independent teaming and split them two on one switch and two on the other.  I have all four teamed now and everything seems to be working fine.  I am only presenting one IP to the Nimble Storage Unit though.

Thank you to anyone who can help.

[richbspr60 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Give each port a separate IP address. Ensure that each server goes to each switch for redundancy.

In the NIC config in windows, disable ALL protocols other than IPv4, disable LMHOSTS lookup, netbios, and stop adaptor being registered in DNS. Decide if using jumbo frames or not and ensure that host, switches, and Nimble all match.

Ensure you have MPIO (multi-pathing) feature installed, and use Nimble Windows tools to connect to the array. Multipathing is the best choice for redundancy - It's not advisable to use teaming on storage.

hope this helps

Richard 

[chris24]

Hello,

The way you currently have your Hyper-V environment setup you will get very poor performance, most notably elevated host latency as you are not leveraging any MPIO, well you are however are negating and compounding any ill affects by having MS apply it's teaming algorithms

As per Richard's recommendation single adapter per Vswitch.

Cheers,

Chris

[obelisk46]

Might want to review this network configuration primer as well.

[jjohnston66]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

[jonathan_disley]

Hi Jimmy,

I'd also recommend downloading and reviewing the following document from InfoSight under Resources -> Documentation -> Deployment Consideration Guides:

Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 Deployment Considerations

Regards,

Jonathan