Assuming we have 2 NIC Cards and one port on each of the NIC is NIC teamed
for redundancy, do we use the other port on the NIC for the private network
? Or do we have to bring in a 3rd NIC to set it up ? What would be
recommended ?

Also when we have multiple clusters set up , can we share the private
network across the multiple clusters or do we need to create seperate
isolated private networks ? If so,can one recommend how to set it up ?

Thanks

Never team a heartbeat (private network) NIC. Ideally, you should have a
teamed NIC for your public network and an unteamed NIC for your private
network.

You can have a single heartbeat network across multiple nodes in a cluster
or multiple clusters.

--
Tom

----------------------------------------------------
Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA, MCITP, MCTS
SQL Server MVP
Toronto, ON Canada
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Tom.Moreau


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Assuming we have 2 NIC Cards and one port on each of the NIC is NIC teamed
for redundancy, do we use the other port on the NIC for the private network
? Or do we have to bring in a 3rd NIC to set it up ? What would be
recommended ?

Also when we have multiple clusters set up , can we share the private
network across the multiple clusters or do we need to create seperate
isolated private networks ? If so,can one recommend how to set it up ?

Thanks

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To add to that, if you Team your public NICs, make sure they are team in
fault-tolerance mode, not load balancing

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To add to that, Best practices is to have a single hearbeat network per
cluster, and not to combine multiple cluster heartbeats on a network. You
can however create very small IP networks changing the Mask, and put the
different small IP networks in seperate VLAN's (for 3+ node clusters)

rgds,
Edwin.

Tom,

If we do not NIC team the heartbeat, what if the port fails although the
server is still up and running and the public network is on, will the
cluster failover ?

Also are there best practises on how to set up the networks with regards to
how many NICs do I need, how to set them up,etc, etc. ?

"Edwin vMierlo [MVP]" <EdwinvMierlo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:OPoZ497iHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
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Just to make sure I got it straight, you have two NICs per node and each NIC
is dual ported? Based on that, you have a port free on each NIC and now you
want to use one of those ports for the heartbeat...

If I have that right, I would strong discourage doing that. What you are
trying to mitigate against is a failed NIC, but in the case of a dual ported
NIC with two different networks attached, you would face losing two network
connections or at least causing problems on two different network
connections.

NICs are cheap, buy two more (one for each node) and configure them for your
heart beat.

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That is not considered a good idea. While it will work (if you set each
private network with a different range and they just all share the same
wire), it is not a best practice.

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This is the recommended way to configure it.


--
Russ Kaufmann
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp

The next ClusterHelp class is:
April 30, 2007 - Denver

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You can configure the heartbeat to also use the public interface. So, in the
priority tab on the cluster properties, you can select the private network
first, and the public network second.

Also, you can have multiple heartbeat networks.

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Best practices are simple:
1. You need at least two NICs, one for each network (one for private and one
for public)
2. You can team the public,but you should only use fault tolerant teaming
and should not use load balanced teaming
3. You can not team the private network
4. If you team the public network, you should set one network connection for
one switch and set the other network connection for a second switch to
protect against switch failure
5. For the private network, you should remove the Client for Microsoft
Networks and the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.
6. For all network connections, you should force the speed and duplex
settings
7. In the TCP/IP properties for the private network, you should de-select
the Register this connection's address in DNS, you should deselect Enable
LMHOSTS lookup, and you should select the radio button to Disable NetBIOS
over TCP/IP
8. You should place the private network in a non-routable network segment
and physically segment it from the rest of the network using dedicated hub
or switch or a VLAN.

I think I got them all... <G>


--
Russ Kaufmann
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp

As Tom pointed out, never team your private NICs.

For a two-node cluster, a crossover cable is just fine. For clusters with
more than two nodes, the private NICs go into multicast mode, so sharing
private networks is not a good idea.

--
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP




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