{"id":14039,"date":"2013-01-11T13:39:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T13:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14039"},"modified":"2013-01-11T13:39:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T13:39:00","slug":"windows-server-2012-nic-teaming-part-4-configuration-matrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14039","title":{"rendered":"Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 5 \u2013 Configuration Matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=13984\">Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 1 \u2013 Back To Basics<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=13997\">Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 2 \u2013 What\u2019s What?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14004\">Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 3 \u2013 Switch Connection Modes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14032\">Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 4 \u2013 Load Distribution<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the last two posts I\u2019ve discussed how to configure the <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14004\">switch connection modes<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14032\">traffic distribution algorithms<\/a> of a NIC team to give you LBFO.\u00a0 What\u2019s the right overall design?<\/p>\n<p>I said it before, but considering the length of this topic, it\u2019s probably gotten lost: the configuration of the switch connection modes will depend primarily on what switch design you go with.\u00a0 Very often, you have to use what is already there.\u00a0 But in a greenfield implementation, you\u2019ll have a choice.<\/p>\n<p>I keep the choice of traffic distribution algorithm pretty simple.\u00a0 I ask this question &#8211; Is the NIC team used for a Hyper-V external virtual switch?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes: use Hyper-V Switch Port<\/li>\n<li>No: use Address Hashing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s not always that simple, but it probably will be for 99.99% of implementations.<\/p>\n<p>That means there are 4 basic configurations of NIC team, excluding things like hot standby and additional team interfaces, and without using PowerShell to set specific Address Hash algorithms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Switch Independent with Hyper-V Switch Port<\/li>\n<li>Switch Independent with Address Hash<\/li>\n<li>Switch Dependent with Hyper-V Switch Port<\/li>\n<li>Switch Dependent with Address Hash<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each configuration behaves differently, and each one has best-use cases:<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Switch Independent with Hyper-V Switch Port<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every team member in the team is used to send packets.\u00a0 Remember that each virtual NIC (or port on the virtual switch) is limited to a single team member (and its bandwidth) for inbound and outbound traffic.\u00a0 Inbound and outbound traffic goes through the same NIC, making it perfect for DVMQ.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ie\/download\/details.aspx?id=30160\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a> that this configuration is best used when:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>a) The number of VMs well-exceeds the number of team members; and<\/p>\n<p>b) A restriction of a VM to not greater than one NIC\u2019s bandwidth is acceptable<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Don\u2019t get all caught up in a virtual NIC being limited to a single NIC; we consolidated using virtualization because we were underutilizing physical server resources anyway!<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Switch Independent with Address Hash<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This NIC team configuration will send data out across all team members.\u00a0 The packets are load balanced across the team members using address hashing based on the destination details of each packet.<\/p>\n<p>Inbound traffic to this team is limited to a single team member.\u00a0 That is because the IP addresses being used by the team interfaces or virtual NICs can only register with one MAC address on the physical network, and the physical network will send traffic to those IP addresses via those MAC addresses (the team member with that MAC).<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ie\/download\/details.aspx?id=30160\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a> that this configuration is best used when:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>a) Native mode teaming where switch diversity is a concern;<\/p>\n<p>b) Active\/Standby mode teams; and<\/p>\n<p>c) Teaming in a VM (I\u2019ll be coming to this in a future post)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Switch Dependent with Hyper-V Switch Port<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once again, outbound packets are sent across all NICs, with each virtual NIC (or virtual switch port) being associated and restricted to a single team member.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSwitch dependent\u201d should tell you what\u2019s going to happen to inbound traffic: it\u2019s up to the physical switch(es) that the team is connected with to determine how to best send traffic into the team.\u00a0 We expect the switch to distribute traffic across the entire team.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ie\/download\/details.aspx?id=30160\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a> that this configuration is best used when:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>a) Hyper-V teaming when VMs on the switch well-exceed the number of team members <strong>and<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>b) When policy calls for switch dependent (e.g., LACP) teams <strong>and<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>a) When the restriction of a VM to not greater than one NIC\u2019s bandwidth is acceptable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Switch Dependent with Address Hash<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Address Hash so each outbound packet is inspected and routed to the physical network via the resulting physical NIC (team member) that is picked by the hashing algorithm.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, inbound traffic distribution is determined by the physical switch(es) that the team members are connected to.\u00a0 There is no affinity like with Hyper-V Switch Port.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-ie\/download\/details.aspx?id=30160\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a> that this configuration is best used when:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>a) Native teaming for maximum performance and switch diversity is not required; or<\/p>\n<p>b) Teaming under the Hyper-V switch when an individual VM needs to be able to transmit at rates in excess of what one team member can deliver.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This information has been brought to you by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Windows-Server-Hyper-V-Installation-Configuration\/dp\/1118486498%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIJ5WNI7ZSH7W4OXA%26tag%3Dafm0c-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1118486498\" target=\"_blank\">Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration Guide<\/a> (available on pre-order on Amazon) where you\u2019ll find lots of PowerShell like in this script:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Windows-Server-Hyper-V-Installation-Configuration\/dp\/1118486498%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIJ5WNI7ZSH7W4OXA%26tag%3Dafm0c-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1118486498\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/image_thumb19.png\" border=\"0\" alt=\"image\" width=\"196\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Technorati Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Windows+Server+2012\">Windows Server 2012<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Hyper-V\">Hyper-V<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Networking\">Networking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 1 \u2013 Back To Basics Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 2 \u2013 What\u2019s What? Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 3 \u2013 Switch Connection Modes Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 4 \u2013 Load Distribution In the last two posts I\u2019ve discussed how to configure the switch connection &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=14039\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Windows Server 2012 NIC Teaming Part 5 \u2013 Configuration Matrix&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[181,80,118],"class_list":["post-14039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hyper-v","tag-hyper-v","tag-networking","tag-windows-server-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}