available network connections for cluster

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available network connections for cluster

Henry_Lee

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August 5, 2011 at 5:54 am

#241797

Good day,
I'm installing a 2 node Win2003 Cluster. I have 3 network connections on each node - 1 to connect the server to our LAN, 1 back to the storage SAN, and 1 private for the heartbeat.
Cluster Administrator only sees 2 of the 3 connections. It does not see the connection out to our LAN.
Any ideas where I can look or how I can make that network visible to the cluster?
Thanks!

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colin.Leversuch-Roberts SSC Guru Points: 52643 More actions · Answer 1

why are you using w2k3 it must be almost out of support?

as far as I know, as I only have w2k8 clusters, you have to add a nic as a resource, like everything else, before it can be used.

[font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/

colin.Leversuch-Roberts SSC Guru Points: 52643 More actions · Answer 2

sorry should have added - clusters generally don't "see" anything until you define it as a resource.

[font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/

Henry_Lee SSCrazy Points: 2714 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks for the reply.

I do not make the decisions about the OS, though, I believe we have not moved to 2008 because of licensing costs.

As for adding the NIC as a resource through Cluster Administrator - that does not appear to be an option. I've never had to do that in the past. In the past, the cluster just *knew" about the available network connections. I'm assuming I'm just missing an easy configuration, but I've compared my network connections to a different working cluster and I don't see what I'm missing.

colin.Leversuch-Roberts SSC Guru Points: 52643 More actions · Answer 4

I believe ( maybe ) that a cluster can only "see" one nic per network. You may need to create a second vlan before the cluster will see the other nic. Sorry not totally au fait with multiple networks out of a cluster. I did look at one of my clusters to see if I could add another nic.

[font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/

Henry_Lee SSCrazy Points: 2714 More actions · Answer 5

Interesting that you said I may need to create another VLAN. Because on my other cluster, both connections (1 out to LAN and 1 back to storage) are teamed and thus virtual and both connections show up fine in Cluster Administrator. With the cluster I'm currently building, we only teamed the connection back to the storage and that is the one that is showing up fine.

Henry_Lee SSCrazy Points: 2714 More actions · Answer 6

I think you hit it on the head. I came across a few different posts indicating a cluster will use 1 NIC per subnet and ignore the rest. Indeed on my other cluster, the 2 connections are using different subnets.

Thanks for the discussion!

Perry Whittle SSC Guru Points: 234013 More actions · Answer 7

Are you using MS iSCSI initiator?

If so do not use teaming for these NICs use the initiator policies for fail over or load balancing

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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

Henry_Lee SSCrazy Points: 2714 More actions · Answer 8

Yes, we are using the MS iSCSI Initiator to connect to the SAN. The machine is a Dell PE2950 with Broadcom NIC's, so we are using the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 3 to team the NIC's.

I haven't done a lot of storage configuration, I'm working with our network admins to get a better understanding. Can you expand on your suggestion or point me to some resources?

Thanks!