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This chapter contains the following sections:
Microsoft Network Load Balancing (NLB) is a clustering technology offered by Microsoft as part of the Windows server operating systems. Clustering enables a group of independent servers to be managed as a single system for higher availability, easier manageability, and greater scalability.
For more information about Microsoft NLB, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742455.aspx
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NLB has the following configuration guidelines and limitations:
The no mac auto-static-learn command is not supported on PVLAN ports.
The no mac auto-static-learn command is not supported on the ports that are configured with switchport port-security mac-address sticky.
Unknown unicast flood blocking (UUFB) does not block Microsoft-Network Load Balancing (MS-NLB) packets on MS-NLB vEthernet interfaces. UUFB can be used to limit flooding of MS-NLB packets to non-MS-NLB ports within a VLAN.
You can configure Microsoft NLB in the interface or the port profile configuration mode.
You can configure Microsoft NLB in the interface configuration mode.
Note | Make sure that the Cisco Nexus 1000V is configured before you configure Microsoft NLB on Windows virtual machines (VMs). |
This example shows how to configure Microsoft NLB directly on a vEthernet interface:
switch# configure terminal switch(config-if)# show running-config interface vethernet 1 switch(config)# interface vethernet 1 switch(config-if)# no mac auto-static-learn !Command: show running-config interface Vethernet1 !Time: Tue Nov 15 19:01:36 2011 version 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) interface Vethernet1 inherit port-profile vm59 description stc3, Network Adapter 2 no mac auto-static-learn vmware dvport 34 dvswitch uuid "ea 5c 3b 50 cd 00 9f 55-41 a3 2d 61 84 9e 0e c4" vmware vm mac 0050.56B3.0071 switch(config)#
This example shows how to unconfigure Microsoft NLB directly from a vEthernet interface:
switch# configure terminal switch(config-if)# show running-config interface vethernet 1 switch(config)# interface vethernet 1 switch(config-if)# mac auto-static-learn !Command: show running-config interface Vethernet1 !Time: Tue Nov 15 19:01:52 2011 version 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) interface Vethernet1 inherit port-profile vm59 description stc3, Network Adapter 2 mac auto-static-learn vmware dvport 34 dvswitch uuid "ea 5c 3b 50 cd 00 9f 55-41 a3 2d 61 84 9e 0e c4" vmware vm mac 0050.56B3.0071 switch(config)#
You can configure Microsoft NLB in the port profile configuration mode.
Note | Make sure that the Cisco Nexus 1000V is configured before you configure Microsoft NLB on Windows Virtual Machines (VMs). |
This example shows how to configure Microsoft NLB in port profile mode:
switch# configure terminal switch(config-port-prof)# show running-config port-profile ms-nlb !Command: show running-config port-profile ms-nlb !Time: Tue Nov 15 19:00:40 2011 version 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) port-profile type vethernet ms-nlb vmware port-group switchport mode access switchport access vlan 59 no mac auto-static-learn no shutdown state enabled switch(config-port-prof)#
This example shows how to unconfigure Microsoft NLB on a vEthernet interface in port profile mode:
switch# configure terminal switch(config)# port-profile type vethernet ms-nlb switch(config-port-prof)# mac auto-static-learn switch(config-port-prof)# show running-config port-profile ms-nlb !Command: show running-config port-profile ms-nlb !Time: Tue Nov 15 19:01:05 2011 version 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) port-profile type vethernet ms-nlb vmware port-group switchport mode access switchport access vlan 59 mac auto-static-learn no shutdown state enabled switch(config-port-prof)#
You can configure Microsoft NLB in multicast mode.
Microsoft NLB in multicast mode requires IGMP Snooping to be disabled on Cisco Nexus 1000V.When this is done, Microsoft NLB packets on that VLAN are flooded as unknown multicast.
In order to minimize flooding, it is suggested to use a dedicated VLAN for Microsoft NLB traffic.
Note | The Multicast mode assigns the cluster unicast virtual IP address to a non-Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) multicast MAC address (03xx.xxxx.xxxx). IGMP snooping does not dynamically register this address, which results in flooding of the NLB traffic in the VLAN as an unknown multicast. |
Note | Make sure that the Cisco Nexus 1000V is configured before you configure Microsoft NLB on Windows virtual machines (VMs). |
Know that unicast is the default Microsoft Network Load Balancing mode of operation.
Make sure IGMP Snooping is disabled on Cisco Nexus 1000V. For information on IGMP Snooping, see the Configuring IGMP Snooping section in the Cisco Nexus 1000V Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide.
Feature Name |
Feature Name |
Releases |
---|---|---|
Network Load Balancing |
4.2(1)SV1(5.1) |
This feature was introduced. |