Vista - Virtual Server 2005 R2 Host clustering NIC issue

I have 2 identical Dell PowerEdge 2950s. They each have 2 Broadcom embedded
NICs as well as a 4port Intel PCI-X NIC. The NICs are configured as follows:

Broadcom1: iSCSI
Broadcom2: iSCSI
Intel Port1: LAN
Intel Port2: Reserved for VM access to LAN
Intel Port3: reserved for VM access to LAN
Intel Port4: Cluster Heartbeat

I've read the entire Step by Step instuctions on installing a Host Cluster.
Everything is working OK except for 1 thing.

I create a Virtual Network on one Node and assign it to the Intel Physical
Port#2. I then Remove the network from the console, cut/paste the .vnc to
the iSCSI shared drive. I then add the network .vnc file via the console and
point it to the iSCSI shared drive. I make sure the VM is using the newly
created virtual network.

I then failover Node1 to Node2. I open the admin console and add the .vnc
file that is stored on the iSCSI shared drive. When I add it and look at the
configuration settings of the Virtual Network, I notice that it is now bound
to Intel Port#3 on the physical NIC.

Now I originally created the virtual network on NODE1 to use Intel Port#2
but when I failover to NODE2, the console is telling me it is using Intel
Port#3.

I have a network cable plugged into Intel Port#2 on both Hosts but obviously
I lose connectivity to the VM when it fails over to NODE2 due to it wanting
to use Intel Port#3.

If I configure the virtual networks to use Port#2 on both Nodes and store
the .vnc file LOCALLY, it works great.

Any idea???

I did see a post on modifying the "Options" xml file to have the Adapaters in
the same order in each xml file but when I try and modify the xml files, I
only have a Read Only copy of them. How do I frre them up for editing?

"Daveyd" wrote:

Why are you moving the .VNC file to the iSCSI drive? Does failover from
node to node work properly with the locally defined VNC files? If so, I'd
just leave it configred that way. I *believe* you're confusing the steps
for configuring the Hosts as a cluster and creating a clustered Guest.

I'd follow these steps:
Using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 to Create and Configure a Two-Node
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Cluster
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...y/cvs2005.mspx

--

Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Clustering
MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP


"Daveyd" <Daveyd@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C3223890-AD12-4661-B328-F4CD74E8CB0B@xxxxxx

I am following the steps outlined here for Host clustering:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en



To create Guest1 on one of the hosts
1. Complete the previous procedures.
2. On the computer that contains the management tool for Virtual Server 2005
R2, click Start, click Programs or All Programs, click Microsoft Virtual
Server, and then click Virtual Server Administration Website. View the
cluster node that currently owns DiskResourceX (which is in Guest1Group).
3. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Networks, click Create.
4. In Virtual network name, type ClusterNetwork.
5. In Network adapter on physical computer, select the network adapter
associated with the public network (not the private network) and then click
OK.
6. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Networks, click Configure, and then
click View All.
7. Point to the virtual network you just created, and then click Edit
Configuration. In the line labeled .vnc file, select the path, and then open
a text editor such as Notepad and copy and paste the path into a file for
later use.
8. In the Virtual Server Administration Website, click Back.
9. Point to the virtual network you just created, and then click Remove.
The purpose of this step is not to undo the creation of the virtual network,
but to clear Virtual Server of information that will prevent you from moving
the configuration file for the virtual network (the .vnc file) to the cluster
storage.
10. On the cluster node on which you created the .vnc file, open Explorer,
and then navigate to the path that you copied into a text file in step 7.
11. Right-click ClusterNetwork.vnc, and then click Cut.
Note
You must cut and paste the file, not copy it.
12. Navigate to X:\Guest1 and paste the .vnc file, ClusterNetwork.vnc.
13. In the Virtual Server Administration Website, under Virtual Networks,
click Add.
14. In the box next to Existing configuration (.vnc) file, type:
X:\Guest1\ClusterNetwork.vnc
15. Click Add.
16. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Machines, click Create.
17. In Virtual machine name, instead of simply typing the name, type the
following path, which not only names the virtual machine Guest1, but places
the virtual machine's configuration file on the cluster storage:
X:\Guest1\Guest1.vmc
18. In Memory, type a value in megabytes for the amount of RAM used by the
virtual machine.
If you plan to create other virtual machines on this physical host, be sure
to use only part of the physical RAM for Guest1.
19. In Virtual hard disk, select Create a new virtual hard disk. To set the
size of the virtual hard disk, specify a value in Size, and then select
either MB for megabytes or GB for gigabytes.
This size must be smaller than or equal to the size of disk X:.
20. In Virtual network adapter, select ClusterNetwork.
21. Click Create.
To complete the configuration of Guest1 so it can fail over
1. Complete the previous procedures.
2. In Cluster Administrator, move Guest1Group to the other node (not the
node on which you were working in the previous procedure).
3. For the cluster node on which Guest1Group is currently located, open the
Virtual Server Administration Website.
4. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Networks, click Add.
5. In the box next to Existing configuration (.vnc) file, type:
X:\Guest1\ClusterNetwork.vnc
6. Click Add.
7. In the navigation pane, under Virtual Machines, click Add.
8. In Fully qualified path to file, type:
X:\Guest1\Guest1.vmc
9. Click Add.
10. On either cluster node, in Cluster Administrator, create a new script
resource with the properties in the following list.
Note
Do not bring this new resource online until you have completed step 8.
• Call it Guest1Script.
• Make it a Generic Script resource.
• Assign the resource to Guest1Group.
• For Possible Owners, make sure both cluster nodes are listed.
• Add DiskResourceX to the list of resource dependencies.
• For the Script filepath, specify the following, typing the percent
character (%) as shown:
%windir%\Cluster\Havm.vbs
11. With Guest1Script in the Offline state, on the same node as in the
previous step, click Start, click Run, type the following command, and then
press ENTER:
cluster res "Guest1Script" /priv VirtualMachineName=Guest1
This command associates the Guest1Script resource with the guest named Guest1.
12. In Cluster Administrator, bring Guest1Group online.
If you use the Virtual Server Administration Website to view the node that
is the owner of Guest1Group, in Master Status, Guest1 will now have a status
of Running.


"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:

Yes, understood. I saw that as well. The heading for that section states:
To create Guest1 on one of the hosts

I understood that you were trying to get the HOST systems clustered first,
not a GUEST system yet, right?

--

Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Clustering
MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP


"Daveyd" <Daveyd@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B0E4AA87-557C-4D1B-9953-615363B21FD2@xxxxxx

Correct. I am just looking to cluster the 2 Hosts (Node1, Node2).

Everything does work OK is I store the .vnc file locally on each host. Its
when I store the vnc file on the iSCSI share when it assigns different
Physical ports on the NIC. It's like Virtual Server enumerates the ports on
the 4port NIC differently, even though Windows names them the exact same
thing on both nodes.

The "Options.xml" file as was indicated in anoer post, lists all the
adapters but they are in different order in each xml file on each host. I
wonder if changing them to be exactly the same would correct the issue?

If it is no big deal to have the .vnc file for each VM stored locally in a
Host cluster, then that is fine by me. I was just trying to do what the
instructions said.

"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:

Just to clarify. I am not looking to install a guest cluster. ie: Install
Virtual Server on a physical Host then install 2 guest O/S VMs and cluster
they guest O/S

I am clustering 2 physical servers, each running Virtual Server and running
5 VMs within Virtual server. If one physical Host fails, I want the ability
of all VMs to failover to the other physical Host with little or no loss of
data or little or no downtime.



"Daveyd" wrote: