Problem with Teaming (i guess) in Hyper-V

[idata]

Hi all,

Here's my problem with Hyper-V:

Don't ask me why, but today, some of my VM can't ping other VM on another host! The only change i've made is to install .Net Framework 4 on all VM.

Here's the detail of my environnement:

• 1 physical server with SCVMM 2008 R2
• 3 physical host with Windows Server 2008 R2Core with Hyper-V and Failover cluster role
• 10 VM (for now) that i ofen move from host to host for my test.
• No Firewall activated
• Integration service install on all VM
• Some VM W2K3, others W2k8 R2
• The problem is the same in Safe Mode with Networking

Here's the detail of the problem:

Some VM (5 have the problem) can't ping other VM on another host: So VM1 on host1 can't ping VM2 and VM3 on host2 BUT can ping VM4 on host2!! By this time, VM1 can ping all other VM on host1 and all other on host3. This behaviour is "unpredictable". Sometimes it's a VM from host3 who have problem with VM on host1..

I solve the problem by different way: assigning static MAC adress, deleting network card on VM and create new one, create legacy acrd instead of network card, deleting all entry in the registry from old card, etc.

Now I have two VM where I already try all thoses solutions without succes!

It's not a VLAN problem as when a VM can't ping another one, it can ping some other in the same VLAN and across others VLAN...

Here's another test i've made: If i take VM1 who's in problem (VM1 on Host1 can't ping VM2 on Host2) and VM3 who's OK. I shut those two VMs, and switch the MAC adresse and IP between the VMS, VM1 start to work OK and VM3 is in problem. So i think it's a MAC problem! But if i try to put different static MAC to all my VM i still have the problem.

Another information: all my physical host are SUN Fire x4170 with 4 Intel Network cards. The first NIC is reserved for manageemnt and the other tree are in Teaming (command line :PROSetCL.exe Team_Create 1,3,4 TeamVM VMLB) for Virtual Machine Load Balancing. No special configuration on the Cisco switch.

Someone already see that?

Thanks

Patrick

[Patrick_K_Intel1]

Can you provide the output for an ipconfig /all from Hyper-V please?

Also, which version of the drivers are you using?

[idata]

sounds like our problem exactly! We currently have a case open with MS, we'll see what happens. My gut feeling is that there is an issue with

vmlb + dynamic mac's+vlans.

[idata]

Hi Tony,

The problem is solved from my side and you're right! The problem was the VMLB. I change it to ALB and all is OK now!

Good luck

[idata]

thanks for the response, vmlb sounded awesome! Wonder if intel has an update on this?

[Patrick_K_Intel1]

We do! :-) I'm digging around to figure out exactly which version of the driver has this fixed. Stay tuned.

[idata]

we are running 15.1.29, is there something newer

[idata]

we are running 15.1.29 is there something newer?

[Patrick_K_Intel1]

15.2 is the latest and greatest I believe (I am checking on that with folks, as this is not my area). It can be downloaded here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3189&DwnldID=18725&lang=eng http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3189&DwnldID=18725&lang=eng

I am not sure if the VMLB fix is in this version or not, as I said I'm checking on it.

[idata]

ok found 15.2 is that the one you were looking for?

[idata]

looked at the readme for 15.2 didn't see anything about vmlb, but I could have missed something!

[Patrick_K_Intel1]

Seems like this was fixed in 15.4. The latest driver available is 15.4.1 which you can get from here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19163&lang=eng http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19163&lang=eng

I've no idea why the normal driver download site has 15.2 as the latest - I'm poking folks on that. However I'm told that the link above has the drivers that should fix this issue for you.

[idata]

Patrick, can you confirm me that 15.4.1 solve this problem? I don't have time to update all my server if the problem isn't solve!

Also, which advantage i have to use VMLB instead of ALB?

Thanks for your help!

Pat

[Patrick_K_Intel1]

Based upon the description of the issue, it appears to match the symptoms of a bug fixed in release 15.4, which would also be included in 15.4.1.

I'm not an expert on teaming, however I have found a nice web page the explains the differences for you:

http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-009747.htm http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-009747.htm

[idata]

Hopefully we'll be able to apply these today, I'll let you know if it works for us. VMLB sounds cool so we went with it, it seems to be more dynamic then the other teaming options. Note that since none of this has worked properly yet I can't say if its cool or not!

[idata]

ok it didn't resolve the issue, but I've got to be truthful here. Its a hp server with hp nic drivers with the intel ans software installed on top. Do you think this would cause a conflict? Hp's NCU doesn't support the VMLB mode as far as I can tell, we've backed out the configuration.