mscs (cluster across boxes)

[ctatro]

Microsoft Clustering services acorss two esx hosts.

I have read this document http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40_u1/vsp_40_u1_mscs.pdf and it states you should have two physical nics 1 for heartbeat (private network) and 1 for the public network.

I am inquiring if you can use a virtual switch for the heartbeat instead of dedicating a physical adapter to the private network for microsoft clustering?

!file:///C:/Users/ctatro/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png!

[AndreTheGiant]

You can use a portgroup also on the same vSwitch both for cluster hearbeat and network.

But to have network availabilty it's better that both portgroup works on different NICs.

Andre

[ctatro]

So... using a vswitch instead of a physical nic is a supported configuraiton? I was just curious why vmware's docs mentioned using a vswitch connected to a physical nic for the heartbeat in the cluster.

[AndreTheGiant · Accepted solution]

Is not possible use direct a NIC.

A NIC is always connected to a vSwitch and contain port groups.

To make MSCS working you must have two virtual NIC in the VM.

They can also be in the same portgroup but this is not a good configuration to have avaiability in the heartbeat service (remenber to configure it also on the network, not only in the private network).

So a good solution is use 2 different portgroup that goes on different physical NICs.

You can obtain this by using two different vSwitches or by using a single vSwitch with different team policy for each portgroup.

Andre