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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Changing NIC Order On Server Core

 

For those of you who are deploying Hyper-V on Server Core, there is one very important thing to configure before setup Hyper-V Cluster. This step is changing NIC order. In Full installation, it is easy to change the NIC order since the GUI is present.

However in Server Core, since there is no GUI, you need to change the NIC order in registry.

Before we modify the registry, use nvspbind utilities to capture the MAC address for each NIC.

nvspbind.exe > C:\nicmac.txt

The end result will transfer to a text file. Use it as a reference to identify the MAC address.

image

Once you’ve complete this step, proceed to modify on registry

Go to

  1. HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\services\TCPIP\Linkage
    1. Bind: Contains NIC GUIDs
    2. Export: Contains NIC GUIDs
    3. Route: Contains NIC GUIDs

Sample result on my server:-

Bind

\Device\{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}
\Device\{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}
\Device\{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}
\Device\{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}
\Device\{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}
\Device\{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}
\Device\{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}
\Device\{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}
\Device\{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}
\Device\{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}
\Device\{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}
\Device\{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}

 

Export

\Device\Tcpip_{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}
\Device\Tcpip_{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}
\Device\Tcpip_{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}
\Device\Tcpip_{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}
\Device\Tcpip_{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}
\Device\Tcpip_{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}
\Device\Tcpip_{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}
\Device\Tcpip_{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}
\Device\Tcpip_{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}
\Device\Tcpip_{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}
\Device\Tcpip_{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}
\Device\Tcpip_{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}

Route

"{F95F9F29-2440-45AF-ADD9-60EA6479FDFD}"
"{29D39985-50FC-4B3E-A39D-8C79CDDF9205}"
"{1D683A18-B32A-4436-8C61-728F2E57ACD0}"
"{D42AB6E5-3C77-430C-95F8-7226B353B6EF}"
"{2E04C18D-622C-4217-A1E9-F2B81EFE657A}"
"{6BE58993-C250-4BCF-A96F-A43C0A5EBDE7}"
"{C10CDD27-6802-43E1-8AC9-3F45FC93FE71}"
"{35F54C5A-36D1-46B4-A493-BAAE914D10B9}"
"{79BE86E5-1A1E-4136-9A5C-54705045289D}"
"{1F01EA62-2D73-4AE0-833A-058781F95140}"
"{96790720-8BE9-4465-8309-74EF2142632B}"
"{E80BD870-B6C0-415A-BEBB-108FA83B3019}"

Modify the NIC GUID order according to

1. Management

2, Cluster Heartbeat / CSV

3. Live Migration

4. iSCSI

5. MS Virtual Network Adapter

6. Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter

and so on…

Once complete, reboot the server for the NIC order to take place.

Posted by Lai Yoong Seng at 3:49 PM
Labels:

6 comments:

  1. Hi Lai

    I've two questions for you:

    1) Why is it important to change the order? What error do you face that you need to change it?

    2) if it's that important, why does Microsoft not release a supported way to configure the order? ;)

    Cheers
    Michel

    ReplyDelete

  2. Hi Michel,

    1. Sometimes when configure Cluster, the NIC is not in order and we do need Management to be on top. To ensure proper network traffic, this is how i configure NIC order. Error that i faced is Cannot assign cluster IP. The system detected that to setup cluster, i can only use DHCP. Then i found out the management NIC is not on top and is using other NIC which get an IP address from DHCP.
    2. There is no specific Microsoft Support document and proper NIC order but most guide on the web mentioned Management NIC should be on top priority. This blog post will assist people on how to configure NIC order from Server Core if require.
    For other document that may interest you pls refer to
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/04/15/windows-server-2008-failover-clusters-networking-part-4.aspx
    Thank you for your comment. Cheer

    ReplyDelete

  3. Hello All,

    Based on some passionate feedback (see the comments here http://blogs.technet.com/b/jhoward/archive/2010/01/25/announcing-nvspbind.aspx) NVSPBIND allows to change the order with swithces +, ++, - , --without actually have to do this manually in the registry as you can read here: http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/nvspbind

    Best regards,

    Didier Van Hoye (http://workinghardinit.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/microsoft-really-listens-enhances-nvspbind/)

    ReplyDelete

  4. Hi Didier,

    Yup. I saw that and tried it. It is based on protocol that you want to change the NIC order. Well, you can use that as well. I find using nvspbind and registry is really fast and easy to do it.

    Anyway, both work as well.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Cheer-Lai

    ReplyDelete

  5. Here are some additional links for you:

    Chris's Blog on TechNet on Troubleshooting:
    http://blogs.technet.com/b/chrad/archive/2009/09/06/real-world-example-of-troubleshooting-r2-live-migration-using-csv-s.aspx

    Our post on changing the NIC order in Core:
    http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2010/03/nic-binding-order-on-server-core-or.html

    A conversation on the Hyper-V Forums that has a bunch of resources on both setup and binding order later in the topic:

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/bbf34adb-0308-4d85-9953-3f452c88d128/

    Philip Elder SBS MVP

    ReplyDelete

  6. on behalf of the visitor,

    Thank you for sharing.

    "Sharing is caring" :)

    ReplyDelete

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