Help With HyperConverged/Hyper-V NIC setup

[Christopheric1]

Hey All,

I have posted this on a couple of sites and was recommended to come here to get the answers I need. I can't seem to get anyone to give me a for sure answer. Here is what I am trying to do:

I am running Hyper-V 2012 and the StarWind software 2 node Hyper-Converged setup.
I have (per host) 2 - 10Gb NICs, and 6 1Gb NICs

Hyper-V has its own set of requirements, and those are the ones I am confused about with the merging of Server 2012 Hypervisor and StarWind being on the same host.

So here is what I have setup so far (not in production yet):

the 2 - 10Gb NICs are going from host to host to do the Sync1/iSCSI Data 1, Sync2/iSCSI Data 2 Links

This is where I get confused is after this...I know you need a heartbeat for StarWind, and does this have to be a dedicated NIC?
Also, do I need additional NICs to setup iSCSI from host to switch with MPIO?
If that takes up another 2 of my NICs, Do I dedicate 1 to be the MGMT, LAN, and VSwitch?
Do I need one for the cluster data?

I am sorry if I seem confused, I have just never dealt with a hyper-converged method and no one out there seems to have a 100% definitive answer.

Thanks!

[Anatoly (staff)]

WELCOME!

This is where I get confused is after this...I know you need a heartbeat for StarWind, and does this have to be a dedicated NIC?

Nope. HeartBeat uses approximately 200 MB per month, so running it over the dedicated NICs will be just a waste of the hardware. Feel free to run it over the data links that StarWind servers can communicate through.

Also, do I need additional NICs to setup iSCSI from host to switch with MPIO?

Yes, you do need that to enable failover. That is not necessary should be 10 Gbps NIC - you can use loopback connection as primary and 1 Gbps NIC as seconday, both are running in a Failover only maner MPIO. Round robin will require 10 Gbps though.

If that takes up another 2 of my NICs, Do I dedicate 1 to be the MGMT, LAN, and VSwitch?

That is absolutely possible from the StarWind stand point.

Do I need one for the cluster data?

I`m not sure that I understand this question. I will appreciate if

I am sorry if I seem confused, I have just never dealt with a hyper-converged method and no one out there seems to have a 100% definitive answer.

No worries - the only bad question is unasked.

[Christopheric1]

Nope. HeartBeat uses approximately 200 MB per month, so running it over the dedicated NICs will be just a waste of the hardware. Feel free to run it over the data links that StarWind servers can communicate through.

So this mean I can use the 10Gb link to do this right? (love 100% clarification )

Yes, you do need that to enable failover. That is not necessary should be 10 Gbps NIC - you can use loopback connection as primary and 1 Gbps NIC as seconday, both are running in a Failover only maner MPIO. Round robin will require 10 Gbps though.

So with this, can I just use 2 of the 1Gb links to setup the round robin? Or do I need to use the 10Gb link?

Thank you for all your help!

[Anatoly (staff)]

So this mean I can use the 10Gb link to do this right? (love 100% clarification )

Use any data link with any throughput that two servers can communicate through.

So with this, can I just use 2 of the 1Gb links to setup the round robin? Or do I need to use the 10Gb link?

StarWin will run over the 1Gpbs like a charm. But I`d used Failover only in this case.

[Christopheric1]

I am still so very confused and maybe that is just because I have never done Virtualization before...but when I was reading the Hyper-Converged document, it had 2 VLANs per 1 link between the 2 nodes. Is that really 2 Gbe connections? So in that scenario would it be 4 seperate NICs from each server? (whether they are 10Gbe or 1Gbe)

So with what I have being said above, I would need 5 NICs just for StarWind, or do you need more? (MGMT, etc.)

Once that is all completed, then do you need to run more NICs for iSCSI to a switch with MPIO? or is that taken care of with the links between the 2 hosts?

Sorry for all the confusion, but everytime I think I have it, more confusion gets injected in. I think a picture would probably help in my case with the complete layout of NICs needed to do HA.

[Anatoly (staff)]

OK, lets try to work it out from another side:
What NICs do you have? What is the bandwidth of your NICs?
What is going to use StarWind storage?

Just give me this information and I will gladly provide you with the recommendations.

[Christopheric1]

So total NICs on each host are

10Gbe NICs - 2
1Gbe NICs - 6

I will still need NICs for VM traffic for Hyper-V, so these are the total, total NICs

[Anatoly (staff)]

What workload do you expect from the VM traffic? I think 1 Gbps should fir requirements of hte MS, but I`m not sure if your system will be happy with that.

[Christopheric1]

So I will have 7 VM's running, I will have:

1 File Server
2 DC's
2 SQL Servers (Very low access)
1 IT server (just used for installs, very low impact)

and also, this is not set in stone yet, would it be better to go the route of having 10 - 1Gbe NICs instead of having the other setup with 2 - 10Gbe NICs and 6 - 1 Gbe NICs?

[Anatoly (staff)]

To be honest that tells me nothing - that is the workload type, not the workload numbers.

But OK, let's assume that 10 Gbps link will be enough for that (let me know if it is not). To keep your system balanced from a networking perspective, I`d recommend you to use one 10 Gig connection for synchronization channel, the other one for the VM migration and other hyper-V things. Five 1 Gigs should run the iSCSI data connections and HeartBeat. The last NIC can run management traffic.

[Christopheric1]

Is there also an assumption made that I have a 10Gb Switch? i don't have a switch, all I have are the Dual 10Gbe Cards. How would I run all of the Hyper-V Stuff just from going host to host? Won't I need to hook to my 1Gb Switches to do the VM Traffic and VSwitches?

The NICs for iSCSI, are they MPIO to my 1Gb Switch?

Thank you so much for your help with this!

[Anatoly (staff)]

No, 10Gbps switching is not hte requirement, which is pretty profitable in my opinion