Setting up the Heartbeat NIC in Hyper-V server 2012 R2

[CougTek]

I expect to be the only one here to have attempted to do this, but just in case, here it goes : I want to configure a Windows Server 2012 R2 cluster between three servers. Two of those are Windows Server 2012 R2 DataCenter and since they have a GUI, I've had no problem configuring them. The third one is an Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 and everything has to be done in a CLI. In order to setup a Server 2012 R2 cluster, you have to configure two networks : public and private (the heartbeat). Configuring the public network was a breeze on all three. Just team the concerned NICs and voilà, it is done. Configuring the Heartbeat NIC in command line proved to be much more of a challenge though. For the Heartbeat, the NIC needs not to register its address in the DNS and I also have to disable LMHost lookup. I haven't found out how to do that with netsh. Disabling Netbios over TCP/IP, that, I've been able to do (did it with WMIC). I've tried :

netsh interface set dnsservers name="Ethernet 4" register=none

but I receive a "One or more essential parameters were not entered." error message. I haven't started looking how to disable LMHost lookup. Any Windows CLI guru knows how to do this? I can't setup my cluster before the Heartbeat NIC is configured properly.

 

[Howell]

If you mean what I think you mean you can use ipconfig /registerdns to get the server to show up in DNS. This is after you have properly configured the server with a static IP settings.
I'm not sure about the other setting.

 

[Mercutio]

netsh is one of those commands I kind of hate, because it's so overloaded with functions. Does that interface need to handle DNS at all or is it just a static route to some other single NIC or address range?

 

[CougTek]

It just need to have a static IP and no contact to the DNS. It also needs not to use NetBIOS. I don't know exactly how Server 2012 R2 will use it to communicate to the other clustered servers. I simply follow the "how to" guide to configure a cluster of Windows Server 2012 R2 servers. The guide doesn't mention how to configure the cards with CLI, that is why I am on my own.

I'll try ipconfig /registerdns tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[Mercutio]

My thinking is to just disable DNS on that interface entirely, something that should be pretty straightforward:

net int ip set dns name="lan2" none

Will work I think.

netsh doesn't directly have a context for dealing with NetBIOS-anything so I think you have to do that with wmic. Again, the easiest thing to do is just turn it off.
This is one of those things where you would think there would be a pre-made commandlet or something to do the work, even on a Server Core machine. I know this isn't an every day activity, but just like configuring a machine to be a virtual desktop host, there's an awful lot of fiddly bits that all have to be working right and some of them are OBSCURE.

 

[Howell]

I sorry, I missread what you wrote before. It should be very similar to 2008r2. Tomorrow I'll look at my sql cluster and refresh my memory.

 

[CougTek]

net int ip set dns name="lan2" none

I get a message that the syntax of this command is incorrect.

 

[Mercutio]

Here's the relevant command reference.

Try: net int ip set dns name="lan2" source=none

 

[CougTek]

I've tried both your string as well as : netsh interface ip set dns name="Ethernet 4" source=none and none work. Element not found was the computer's reply, but the interface's name really is Ethernet 4. If I do a : netsh interface ip show config, that's the name I see.I give up. I hate netsh. I'll try to setup the cluster as-is. It should work since I can ping all the other servers and they all see each other.

 

[Mercutio]

net, netsh, same difference.

But yes, I also hate netsh.

 

[Howell]

It would be easiest to provide a private network to the heartbeat NICs, it is best to keep that the traffic those NICs see as clean as possible. If you do not configure a DNS server on the private network

<netsh int ipv4 sho dns> will show you the DNS servers that are configured for all interfaces.
<netsh int ipv4 sho int> will show you information about all your interfaces, inparticular the interface name

Using Interface name does not work under 2008, I don't have a 2012 box to test with otherwise this would work. Investigating workaround.
<netsh int ipv4 set dns name="Ethernet 4" address=none register=none> will clear the DNS entries for the specified interface and disable DNS registration. Through it really should not matter if the DNS registers.

 

[Howell]

I mean that to say: If you do not configure a DHPC server on the private network you won't get DNS servers assigned.

More after the break.

 

[Howell]

netsh is very inconsistent with how commands are constructed

From: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee441258(v=ws.10).aspx

netsh int ipv4 sho int - to get the ID

netsh interface ipv4 set address name <ID from interface list> source=static address=<preferred IP address> gateway=<gateway address>