Koldov Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 Not sure where to post, but server is 2012R2 if there are any settings that are specific to this OS... I've freed up some ethernet ports in the server room, so I'm looking at teaming the NICs in our server, I've done a bit of research but just going round in circles really. This is the first time I've done it, but I will be doing both servers eventually - mainly because at certain times WSUS hogs all the bandwidth and there are other services on the server that suffer (printing especially) when all the ICT suite computers are turned on. I will also be looking at VMs in the near future, so there will be questions about that in another thread... unless anyone wants to shout 'don't do it yet then!' So, currently it looks fairly simple: Go to Server Manager > Local Server > NIC Teaming > Select the NICs > Add to New Team > Plug in Ethernet cables to both NICs... Is it really that simple on a production server?
Jawloms Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 Yes it is, but as @msi_school said - you also need to configure the switch.
Warwick_Tech Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 I don't think I've ever configured the switch - What do you do switch side? I've always found it works without (?)
Koldov Posted April 29, 2021 Author Posted April 29, 2021 We don't have access to the switches and any config changes cost £s... I was hoping to use 'Switch Independent' mode. Whilst I'm sure it might not be ideal, is it a definite no?
fiza Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 Yes it is, but as @msi_school said - you also need to configure the switch. Isn't there Switch Independent Teaming now?
Warwick_Tech Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 Isn't there Switch Independent Teaming now? Mine are 'static' but I've not configured the switch - what's the difference with 'Switch Independent' ?
Chaniel Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 I don't think I've ever configured the switch - What do you do switch side? I've always found it works without (?) Depends what kind of teaming mode you set up. Switch independent teaming will mean you don't need to configure the switches. Switch dependent means you need to configure your switches, this would be something like setting up LACP on the ports to create a trunk (HP terminology) More details here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/technologies/nic-teaming/nic-teaming-settings
Griff Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) I will give you an example of one of my servers NIC setup, I cannot recall why I did it this way so apologies if its wrong but been running this way for 3 years no problems. 5 physical NICS and I name them after the physical switch they go into.. Core 1 Core 2 Core 3 Core 4 Core 5 Edge 1 Then I have 2 NIC teams one is Management the other is called VM All 4 called core go into VM the Edge goes into Management. Load Balancing set to Dynamic and Teaming Mode is Switch Independent on both teams. This is the guy I watched to learn how to-do it all I think he does it via PowerShelll but you can do it via the gui. As far as I am aware I didn't do any config on the physical switches. Also I am based in Bedfordshire so if you ever want to site visit or exchange ideas just reach out. Edited April 29, 2021 by Griff 1
msi_school Posted April 29, 2021 Posted April 29, 2021 You learn something new every day. Thank you @fiza You don't need to configure the switches to set up NIC teaming, switch independent teaming does work better on outbound work loads but your servers are probably doing much more outbound than inbound traffic. The microsoft documents are here
Koldov Posted April 29, 2021 Author Posted April 29, 2021 Hmmm... so on the plus side I'd already pulled the trigger and used 'Switch Independant' mode... On the negative side, although I do have two NICs running in a team, they both seem to be stuck at 100 Mbps (so the connection is running at 200 Mbps). Even after digging around the back of the servers with a phone/torch in my mouth in a very small and hot server room (cupboard) cabling it all up with Cat6 (Broadcom BCM5709C Netxtreme II GigE NICs, Cat6 network and 1000 Mbps capable switches).
Warwick_Tech Posted April 30, 2021 Posted April 30, 2021 Hmmm... so on the plus side I'd already pulled the trigger and used 'Switch Independant' mode... On the negative side, although I do have two NICs running in a team, they both seem to be stuck at 100 Mbps (so the connection is running at 200 Mbps). Even after digging around the back of the servers with a phone/torch in my mouth in a very small and hot server room (cupboard) cabling it all up with Cat6 (Broadcom BCM5709C Netxtreme II GigE NICs, Cat6 network and 1000 Mbps capable switches). Maybe try 'Dynamic' - as a test I switched mine to 'Switch Independent' and got some errors - Although as I write this, it's gone green... --------------- Old config for reference: I've also found sometimes better cables don't always equal better results, try a standard Cat5e or Cat6 cable
Griff Posted April 30, 2021 Posted April 30, 2021 Hmmm... so on the plus side I'd already pulled the trigger and used 'Switch Independant' mode... On the negative side, although I do have two NICs running in a team, they both seem to be stuck at 100 Mbps (so the connection is running at 200 Mbps). Even after digging around the back of the servers with a phone/torch in my mouth in a very small and hot server room (cupboard) cabling it all up with Cat6 (Broadcom BCM5709C Netxtreme II GigE NICs, Cat6 network and 1000 Mbps capable switches). Now that could be the config on the physical switches, do you have any access to them at all to check if the ports are configured for 1000 Mbps?
Koldov Posted May 5, 2021 Author Posted May 5, 2021 Thanks for all the help! NIC teams on both servers seem to be up and running fine. We don't have access to the switches as it is a managed network. I did have one of their network engineers remote in and confirm that as they are routed through an ancient Cisco Catalyst 2960 switch (which aren't the Gig capable ones I thought they were), 100Mbps is the best I can achieve unfortunately... Well I guess as the network was built over 11 years ago as part of BSF they just used the minimum spec and at the time 1Gbps wasn't very common in school equipment... So much for 'Building Schools for the Future'...
KK20 Posted May 5, 2021 Posted May 5, 2021 (edited) 100mb uplink into a server? yeuch I feel for you. We still have some venerable GS748TS stacked switches in various buildings, they are solid performers for us (and a lifetime guarantee!) the only bad part is the horrid interface that only seems to work in firefox... Edited May 5, 2021 by KK20
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