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faster4233
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Load Balencing and NIC Teaming

Hi,

We recently had to move our file server to VMware after a nasty little failure of its original hardware. Since we have moved it, it has mostly worked OK, but we do get the occational dropout of the network shares when large files are being thrown about.

The ESXi host it runs on is using 5Gbit ethernet adapters all on the same Virtual Switch. Looking at the traffic it would seem that all the traffic is flowing through just a single NIC, and there isnt much else at all going through the others. Is something i need to configure to get it to better load balencing between the NICs? Or is there a document anywhere which has recomended settings for multiple Nics?

I found one about vDS but we dont have enterprise plus liciencing on most of our servers.

We are running VSphere 4.1 through the Vcentre Server.

Thanks for the help.

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AWo
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What your saying actually makes a bit more sense on what i am seeing. There is very little traffic flowing through the other NICS but thats possibly because there isnt any real traffic going to them. I thought that VMware could use multiple NICs if it was required which was why i thought i would see more data accross the others.

Out of curiosity is there anyway i can combine NICs for more throughput using VMware?

The load balancing you can achieve with VMware is not a "real" load balancing, it is more a static distribution of traffic according to the policy you have choosen.

The one you use means that depending on the virtual switch port ID the vNIC of the guest is connected to a specific pNIC is choosen. The traffic of that single vNIC will use that pNIC as long as this pNIC doesn't fail. In this case the more guests with vNIC's you have the better the pNIC's are utilized.

Other policies may be better for other scenarios. "IP Hash" for example uses the source and target IP address to choose a pNIC. That is a good policy for a single file server with one vNIC and many different communication partners. The "Source Port" policy would route all traffic through one pNIC whereas the "IP Hash" policy would use many pNIC's as not the port ID is used but the communication partners. And a file server should have many of them, more than it has vNIC's.


AWo

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AWo
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Please post screenshots of your virtual switch configuration, especially so we can see the load balancing policy choosen.


AWo

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\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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faster4233
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Hi,

Im not 100% sure which screens you want to see so i have attached the ones which seem the most logical.

Thanks

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AWo
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IMHO your setup looks fine.

Each virtual NIC of theguests should be routed over a different physical NIC. Can you create some steady load on the guests and check again?

How do you figure out that there seems to be load only on one pNIC?


AWo

VCP 3 & 4

\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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faster4233
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Hi,

Thanks for the help.

What your saying actually makes a bit more sense on what i am seeing. There is very little traffic flowing through the other NICS but thats possibly because there isnt any real traffic going to them. I thought that VMware could use multiple NICs if it was required which was why i thought i would see more data accross the others.

Out of curiosity is there anyway i can combine NICs for more throughput using VMware?

Thanks

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AWo
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What your saying actually makes a bit more sense on what i am seeing. There is very little traffic flowing through the other NICS but thats possibly because there isnt any real traffic going to them. I thought that VMware could use multiple NICs if it was required which was why i thought i would see more data accross the others.

Out of curiosity is there anyway i can combine NICs for more throughput using VMware?

The load balancing you can achieve with VMware is not a "real" load balancing, it is more a static distribution of traffic according to the policy you have choosen.

The one you use means that depending on the virtual switch port ID the vNIC of the guest is connected to a specific pNIC is choosen. The traffic of that single vNIC will use that pNIC as long as this pNIC doesn't fail. In this case the more guests with vNIC's you have the better the pNIC's are utilized.

Other policies may be better for other scenarios. "IP Hash" for example uses the source and target IP address to choose a pNIC. That is a good policy for a single file server with one vNIC and many different communication partners. The "Source Port" policy would route all traffic through one pNIC whereas the "IP Hash" policy would use many pNIC's as not the port ID is used but the communication partners. And a file server should have many of them, more than it has vNIC's.


AWo

VCP 3 & 4

\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
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AWo
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Here are some hints: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere4.0.pdf


AWo

VCP 3 & 4

\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
faster4233
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Thanks very much for the help i will have a read through that document.

David

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