Question

So, I have 2 Window Server 2016 Virtual Machines and I am not sure how to create 2 NICs for each server. Can someone explain how to create it?

Answer 1

Explanation :

Windows Server 2016 :

Windows Server is a server operating system created by Microsoft. Currently available in eight versions, Windows Server OS consists of approximately 33.5% of the global server OS market. Windows Server 2016, the second most recent release which has been generally available since October 12, 2016. The operating system comes in two editions, Standard and Datacenter.

Standard Edition supports virtualization.

Windows Server 2016 Virtual Machines :

Just for reference, server virtualization provides a means of partitioning the physical server into smaller virtual servers, thus maximizing the available resources. Standard Edition allows you to create two virtual machines and one Hyper-V host per license.

In the light of the above discussions, the solution to the given question is as follows:

The Solution :

The step by step guide to set up and configure 2 NICs each for 2 Window Server 2016 Virtual Machines is outlined as follows :

Prerequisites :

• You must deploy a Hyper-V host with two network adapters that connect to different physical switches.
• You must also configure the network adapters with IP addresses that are from the same IP address range.

Requirements :

The physical switch, Hyper-V Virtual Switch, local area network (LAN), and NIC Teaming requirements for creating a 2 NIC s for each server or in general, a NIC Team, in a VM are:

• The computer running Hyper-V must have two or more network adapters.
• If connecting the network adapters to multiple physical switches, the physical switches must be on the same Layer 2 subnet.
• You must use Hyper-V Manager or Windows PowerShell to create two external Hyper-V Virtual Switches, each connected to a different physical network adapter.
• The VM must connect to both external virtual switches you create.
• NIC Teaming, in Windows Server 2016, supports teams with two members in VMs. You can create larger teams, but there is no support.
• If you are configuring a NIC Team in a VM, you must select a Teaming mode of Switch Independent and a Load balancing mode of Address Hash.

Step 1. Configure the physical and virtual network

In this procedure, you create two external Hyper-V Virtual Switches, connect a VM to the switches, and then configure the VM connections to the switches.

Prerequisites

You must have membership in Administrators, or equivalent.

Procedure

1. On the Hyper-V host, open Hyper-V Manager, and under Actions, click Virtual Switch Manager.

2. In Virtual Switch Manager, make sure External is selected, and then click Create Virtual Switch.

3. In Virtual Switch Properties, type a Name for the virtual switch, and add Notes as needed.

4. In Connection type, in External network, select the physical network adapter to which you want to attach the virtual switch.

5. Configure additional switch properties for your deployment, and then click OK.

6. Create a second external virtual switch by repeating the previous steps. Connect the second external switch to a different network adapter.

7. In Hyper-V Manager, under Virtual Machines, right-click the VM that you want to configure, and then click Settings.

8. The VM Settings dialog box opens.

9. Ensure that the VM is not started. If it is started, perform a shutdown before configuring the VM.

10. In Hardware, click Network Adapter.

11. In Network Adapter properties, select one of the virtual switches that you created     in previous steps, and then click Apply.

12. 10,In Hardware, click to expand the plus sign (+) next to Network Adapter.

13. Click Advanced Features to enable NIC Teaming by using the graphical user interface.

            a. Select Dynamic for MAC address.

            b. Click to select Protected network.

            c. Click to select Enable this network adapter to be part of a team in the     guest operating system.

           d. Click OK

14. To add a second network adapter, in Hyper-V Manager, in Virtual Machines, right-click the same VM, and then click Settings.

The VM Settings dialog box opens.

15. In Add Hardware, click Network Adapter, and then click Add.

1. In Network Adapter properties, select the second virtual switch that you created in previous steps, and then click Apply.

17. In Hardware, click to expand the plus sign (+) next to Network Adapter.

18. Click Advanced Features, scroll down to NIC Teaming, and click to select Enable this network adapter to be part of a team in the guest operating system.

19. Click OK.

Congratulations! You have configured the physical and virtual network. Now you can proceed to creating a new NIC Team.

Step 2. Create a new NIC Team

When you create a new NIC Team, you must configure the NIC Team properties:

· Team name

· Member adapters

· Teaming mode

· Load balancing mode

· Standby adapter

You can also optionally configure the primary team interface and configure a virtual LAN (VLAN) number.

Prerequisites

You must have membership in Administrators, or equivalent.

Procedure :

1. In Server Manager, click Local Server.

2. In the Properties pane, in the first column, locate NIC Teaming, and then click the Disabled link.

The NIC Teaming dialog box opens.

3. In Adapters and Interfaces, select the one or more network adapters that you want to add to a NIC Team.

4. Click TASKS, and click Add to New Team.

The New team dialog box opens and displays network adapters and team members.

5. In Team name, type a name for the new NIC Team, and then click Additional properties.

6. In Additional properties, select values for:

1. • Teaming mode. The options for Teaming mode are Switch Independent and Switch Dependent. The Switch Dependent mode includes Static Teaming and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP).
     1. Switch Independent. With Switch Independent mode, the switch or switches to which the NIC Team members are connected are unaware of the presence of the NIC team and do not determine how to distribute network traffic to NIC Team members - instead, the NIC Team distributes inbound network traffic across the NIC Team members.
     2. Switch Dependent. With Switch Dependent modes, the switch to which the NIC Team members are connected determines how to distribute the inbound network traffic among the NIC Team members. The switch has complete independence to determine how to distribute the network traffic across the NIC Team members.

• Load balancing mode. The options for Load Balancing distribution mode are Address Hash, Hyper-V Port, and Dynamic.

o Address Hash. With Address Hash, this mode creates a hash based on address components of the packet, which then get assigned to one of the available adapters. Usually, this mechanism alone is sufficient to create a reasonable balance across the available adapters.

o Hyper-V Port. With Hyper-V Port, NIC Teams configured on Hyper-V hosts give VMs independent MAC addresses. The VMs MAC address or the VM ported connected to the Hyper-V switch, can be used to divide network traffic between NIC Team members. You cannot configure NIC Teams that you create within VMs with the Hyper-V Port load balancing mode. Instead, use the Address Hash mode.

o Dynamic. With Dynamic, outbound loads are distributed based on a hash of the TCP ports and IP addresses. Dynamic mode also rebalances loads in real time so that a given outbound flow may move back and forth between team members. Inbound loads, on the other hand, get distributed the same way as Hyper-V Port. In a nutshell, Dynamic mode utilizes the best aspects of both Address Hash and Hyper-V Port and is the highest performing load balancing mode.

· Standby adapter. The options for Standby Adapter are None (all adapters Active) or your selection of a specific network adapter in the NIC Team that acts as a Standby adapter.

7. If you want to configure the primary team interface name or assign a VLAN number to the NIC Team, click the link to the right of Primary team interface.

8. The New team interface dialog box opens.

9. Depending on your requirements, do one of the following:

o Provide a tNIC interface name.

o Configure VLAN membership: click Specific VLAN and type the VLAN information. For example, if you want to add this NIC Team to the accounting VLAN number 44, Type Accounting 44 - VLAN.

10. Click OK.

Congratulations! You've created a new NIC Team on a host computer or VM which contains the 2 NICs in the Windows 2016 Virtual Machine.

The same sequence of steps can be repeated for the second Windows 2016 Virtual Machine as well for configuring its 2 NICs.

This concludes the answer to all parts of the question along with the necessary explanations.

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