Setting up Hyper-V Cluster Networks in Windows Server 2016

There is no single best recommendation on how many networks a Hyper-V host should have, and different factors such as storage type, Hyper-V features used and virtualization load. Networks and network adapters are important parts of each Hyper-V Cluster implementation. You cannot configure a cluster without configuring the networks that the cluster will use. A Hyper-V Cluster needs multiple types of communication between production networks, Hyper-V Hosts and storage system. When you deploy a Hyper-V cluster, you must plan for multiple types of network traffic. After you have completed a Hyper-V Cluster, cluster creates networks name as Cluster Network1, Cluster Network2, and Cluster Network3 and so on… You have to rename cluster network name as based on network traffic type as given below. Then configure network type recommended setting.

Hyper-V Network Traffic Type	Description
Management Network	Provides connectivity between Hyper-V Hosts and Active Directory, DNS and management traffic to our Management OS. Not recommended to use the same NIC for virtual machine access and cluster communication. Use VLAN for separate virtual machine traffic from the management network.
Cluster Network	Used for inter-node cluster communication such as the cluster heartbeat and Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) redirection.
Live migration	Used for virtual machines live migration between cluster nodes.
Storage Network	Used for SMB traffic or for iSCSI traffic, at least two network ports dedicated to the iSCSI network. If you are not using iSCSI or SMB3 storage communication, storage network (NIC) is not required. FC-HBA used for Fibre Channel SAN technology and Direct Attached Storage (DAS) use the special connector for storage communication.
Service Network (Virtual machine access)	Used for virtual machine connectivity. Typically requires external network connectivity to service client requests. Recommended to create a network team of NICs for higher network bandwidth.
Replica traffic	Used for virtual machine replication through the Hyper-V Replica feature.

The following table shows the recommended settings for each type of network traffic:

Network Type	Recommended Settings
Management Network	Both of the following: Allow cluster network communication on this network Allow clients to connect through this network
Cluster Network	Allow cluster network communication on this network. Note: Clear the Allow clients to connect through this network check box.
Live Migration Network	Allow cluster network communication on this network. Note: Clear the Allow clients to connect through this network check box.
Storage Network	Do not allow cluster network communication on this network
Service Network ( Virtual Machine)	Allow cluster network communication on this network
Replication Network Note: Because of the hardware limitation in my lab, I have not included Replication Network.	Both of the following: Allow cluster network communication on this network Allow clients to connect through this network

Management Network Settings:

• Allow cluster network communication on this network
• Allow clients to connect through this network
• 
  

.

Cluster Network Settings:

• Allow cluster network communication on this network

Live Migration Network Settings:

• Allow cluster network communication on this network

Storage Network Settings:

• Do not allow cluster network communication on this network

Service Network Settings:

• Allow cluster network communication on this network.

Isolate traffic on the live migration network:

By default, live migration traffic uses the cluster network topology to discover available networks and to establish priority. However, you can manually configure live migration preferences to isolate live migration traffic to only the networks that you define. To do this, you can use Failover Cluster Manager or Windows PowerShell. To use Failover Cluster Manager, in the navigation tree, right-click Networks, and then click Live Migration Settings. Uncheck all the network except LiveMigration Network and click Up buttons to list LiveMigration Network in order from most preferred at the top.

 

Summary:

In the previous article, you had configure Implementing Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. In this article, you have configure best practices on setting up Hyper-V Cluster Networks in Windows Server 2016 recommended network setting in Failover Cluster Manager. I hope this article helps network configuration setting for a Hyper-V failover Cluster in Windows Server 2016.

Implementing Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V

In the previous article, you have configured Configuring iSCSI Storage and Initiator in Windows Server 2016. Here you can configure Implementing Failover Clustering with Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. A failover cluster is a group of two or more computers working together to increase the availability of a clustered services or applications. To make virtual machines highly available in Hyper-V environment, we must implement failover clustering on the Hyper-V host servers. Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V comes with a number of new features and improvements for Hyper-V high availability and virtual machine mobility. In this article, I will walk you through everything we need to do to build Hyper-V failover cluster including how to validate, create, manage and test our high availability VMs via Failover Cluster Manager. You can build a two-node failover cluster using iSCSI Target Windows Server, using five Networks for failover cluster network.

To implement failover clustering for Hyper-V, you should do the following steps:

1. Configure shared storage
2. Install the Hyper-V and Failover Clustering features on both physical computers
3. Validate the Cluster Configuration
4. Create the cluster
5. Configure Disks for a Failover Cluster
6. Create a highly available virtual machine in one of the cluster nodes
7. Make the virtual machine highly available ( for an existing virtual machine)
8. Simulating an Unplanned Failover
9. Simulating a Planned Failover

1. Configure Shared Storage:

Please refer my previous article, http://www.msserverpro.com/configuring-iscsi-storage-initiator-windows-server-2016/

2. Install the Hyper-V and Failover Clustering features on both physical computers:

Please refer my previous article, http://www.msserverpro.com/implementing-windows-server-2012-hyper-v-failover-clustering/

3. Validate the Cluster Configuration:

1. On KTM-HOST1, in Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Manager. In Failover Cluster Manager, in the center pane, under Management, click Validate Configuration….

2. On the Before You Begin page of the Validate a Configuration Wizard, read the information, and then click Next.

3. On the Select Servers or a Cluster page, in the Enter name text box, type KTM-HOST1 and KTM-HOST2, and then click Add.

4. Verify the Selected servers: entries, and click Next.

5. On the Testing Options page, select the Run only tests I selected and click Next.

6. On the Test Selection page, verify that all Test Selection options are selected and click Next.

7. On the Confirmation page, click Next.

8. Validating Test is currently running…

9. On the Summary page, click on View Report to view the Failover Cluster Validation Report..

10. On the Summary page, after viewing the Failover Cluster Validation Report click Finish.

4. Create the Cluster:

1. In Failover Cluster Manager, there is no cluster created. To create a new cluster, select one of the three Create Clusteroptions in Failover Cluster Manager as shown in the figure.

2. On the Before You Begin page of the Create Cluster Wizard, read the information, and then click Next.

3. On the Select Servers page, in the Enter server name text box, type the servers you want to add into your cluster, and then click Add. Verify the Selected servers entries, and click Next.

4. On the Access Point for Administering the Cluster page, in the Cluster Name text box, type KTMHVCLUSTER. A Cluster name object will be created in AD. In the Address text box, type 168.0.110, and then click Next.

5. On the Confirmation page, check the Add all eligible storage to the cluster checkbox, if you want to automatically add all available storage in the nodes, and click on Next. Creating New Cluster start…

6. When the new cluster creation finishes, click on View Report to see detailed information about the creation, and click on Finish.

Cluster Verification:

In Failover Cluster Manager Console, expand KTMHVCLUSTER.msserverpro.com, click on Nodes, in the center pane, verify that Nodes status are Up.

5. Configure Disks for a Failover Cluster:

1. In Failover Cluster Manager Console, expand msserverpro.com, expand Storage click Disks. Verify that all disks display as available for cluster storage in Failover Cluster Manager. Click Cluster Disk 1. Right-click that disk, and click Add to Cluster Shared Volumes.

2. Cluster Disk 1 will now be listed and accessed in the path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 as shown given below. To see the available disks within the CSV, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder C:\ClusterStorage.

3. Right-click msserverpro.com, click More Actions, click Configure Cluster Quorum Settings.

4. On the Before You Begin Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard, click Next.

5. On the Select Quorum Configuration Option page, click Use default quorum configuration, and then click Next.

6. On the Confirmation page, click Next.

7. On the Summary page, click Finish.

6.Configuring a highly available virtual machine:

1. In Failover Cluster Manager, right-click on Roles, select Virtual Machines.. and click New Virtual Machines..

2. Select KTM-HOST1 as the cluster node, and click OK.

3. In the New Virtual Machine Wizard, on the Before You Begin page, click Next.

4. On the Specify Name and Location page, in the Name text box, type KTM-TESTVM, click Store the virtual machine in a different location, and then click Browse. Browse to and select C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1, and click Select Folder. Click Next.

5. On the Specify Generation page, click Generation 2, and then click Next.

6. On the Assign Memory page, type 2048, select Use Dynamic Memory for this virtual machine and then click Next.

7. On the Configure Networking page, click Service Network, and then click Next.

8. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, click Create a virtual hard disk, and verify the virtual hard disk location and click Next.

9. On the Installation Options page, select Install an operating system later and click Next.

10. On the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard page, click Finish.

11. On the Summary page of the High Availability Wizard, click Finish.

12. Ensure that the machine creates successfully.

8.Simulating an Unplanned Failover:

To test an unplanned failover of the highly available (HA) virtual machine, you can stop the Cluster service on the node that owns the HA virtual machines.

1. In the Failover Cluster Manager console, expand Nodes, Right-click on one of the node to test Unplanned Failover, point to More Actions and then click Stop Cluster Service.

2. Verify that the virtual machine moves to the next node. This might take a short delay while this process.

3. After finished the testing of an unplanned failover, start the Start Cluster Service of KTM-HOST1..

9. Simulating a Planned Failover:

To simulate a planned failover, you can move the clustered virtual machine to another node. You have the following options to move a clustered virtual machine: Live Migration, Quick Migration and Storage Migration. For more details on simulating a planned failover, you will get upcoming article.

Summary:

Failover clustering with Hyper-V is essential to high availability and resilient systems that are at the heart of your business. Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V provides interesting and friendly options for adding Hyper-V high availability and virtual machine mobility to your virtual machines. This exercise will help IT professionals get their experience for the failover scenario that they may encounter during their career.