Server NIC and HSRP

[Hollywood0728]

If you have two 3560's running HSRP, what should the configuration of the server NIC's be? I have mine set for smart load-balancing and failover, but seem to have poor performance. The standby unit gets packets and then does what with them? Drops them? These are dell servers if it matters.

[Keith Barker]

Are your dell interfaces going to 2 separate switches, or to the same switch, and if the same switch, are you using a port-channel to communicate as 1 logical interface from the switch to the server?


Keith

[Hollywood0728]

2 cables per server, 1 cable in each switch.

[Keith Barker]

What is the "poor performance" based on. Was it faster without the fault tolerance?


Keith

[Hollywood0728]

Poor performance is on logon when authenticating to AD, opening files on file server, etc. When I unplug the cable from the standby 3560 everything seems to be fine.

[Keith Barker]

If you have other servers, with this config, and they are fine, then of course the problem is localized. If this is the only server, I would recommend creating an RSPAN VLAN on both switches, monitoring the traffic on both ports the server is connected to, and then delivering the data to a port where you have wireshark or some other protocol analyzer running. Then look at the data, to see if there is something terribly wrong on the wire, (like a packet being sent multiple times, or anything out of the ordinary).

You may want to verify you have the latest tested drivers from Dell, and if the server is under a service contract with Dell, you may want to open a case with them as well.


Best wishes on a speedy solution,
Keith

[Hollywood0728]

Thanks for the insight Keith.

I started looking at the 3560's arp tables. I would clear the arp and check the MAC to that server and it came back as one MAC address of one card, then I would clear the arp again and it would come back with the other NIC's MAC. So the virtual interface MAC was not sticking. So like you suggested, it was a driver issue. Updated the drivers and works perfect now.


Thanks.

[Keith Barker]

Glad to hear it.
Sounds like the new job is keeping you very busy.
Best wishes, and thanks for the follow up.


Keith