NIC Teaming.

[JoeF1]

Hi there.

I have a quick question about NIC teaming and the correct method in doing this as its my first time.

So i have a server with 4 NICs. At the moment this server has only 1 NIC and is being used as an FTP server and we have data captures showing collisions so we are adding new ports. I would like to load balance this and thus having these NICS teamed up.

I have made an amazing paint drawning of what im trying to do.

So the switch is 24 port, i am thinking of VLANing 6 on the right hand side. Do i just make this into a different vlan, plug a port from the router (this is a specific port as it has its own Natting etc) into this one of the 6 VLAN ports then bring 4 cables from the switch to the NIC on the server? And will this work on the basis ive set NIC teaming up right in Windows Server 2k12?

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

I am assuming all the FTP connections come from behind the router? So the link between the router and the switch is the bottleneck. It's like having a toll booth on a 4 lane highway. Nice to have those 4 lanes, but if you can only let 1 car through at a time, what exactly did you gain?

Or did I miss something?

 

[Sir SpankalotUK]

collisions on a switch? does it actually have a backbone?

 

[Armageus]

At the moment this server has only 1 NIC and is being used as an FTP server

I am assuming all the FTP connections come from behind the router?

+1, unless you are FTPing inside your own network (in which case why?), then likely you will gain nothing by adding more LAN cables.

we have data captures showing collisions so we are adding new ports.

What are you capturing data with? - if it's something low level like Wireshark, then be very careful, as unless you know exactly what you are looking at, it is easy to jump to the wrong conclusions. If you are relying on something like Windows Performance Counters / Perfmon, then again, actually read up on what the Counters are showing you, as the names of the Counters are often misleading, or misinterpreted.

So the switch is 24 port, i am thinking of VLANing 6 on the right hand side. Do i just make this into a different vlan, plug a port from the router (this is a specific port as it has its own Natting etc) into this one of the 6 VLAN ports then bring 4 cables from the switch to the NIC on the server?

Not sure why you think you need VLANs?

On your switch it is likely you would need to set up Link Aggregation (normally LACP).

And will this work on the basis ive set NIC teaming up right in Windows Server 2k12

I haven't personally used 2012's Teaming options (although the only difference from 2008 seems that the options have moved from vendor drivers to a standard windows UI), but a quick google gives this fairly decent guide:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmay...er-2012-do-i-need-to-configure-my-switch.aspx

Ideally you want to be using the LACP, as this load balances in both directions (Rather than the Switch Independent mode, which is more for failover).

Before you change anything though, you need to provide more details and clearly identify that this is the bottleneck.

E.g.
If the FTP access is remote, then via what speed connection?
Number of simultaneous connections?
What is being transferred (lots of small files or large continuous files - can make a difference, as focus may then be on latency vs maximum transfer speed)?
What disk subsystem are you transferring files from?

 

[JoeF1]

Hey guys, thanks for replying!

collisions on a switch? does it actually have a backbone?

Sorry this is probably me being terrible at explaining, collisions were showing on the Server NIC. I have done no testing on the router (this is all done by our ISP).

+1, unless you are FTPing inside your own network (in which case why?), then likely you will gain nothing by adding more LAN cables.

What are you capturing data with? - if it's something low level like Wireshark, then be very careful, as unless you know exactly what you are looking at, it is easy to jump to the wrong conclusions.

Argh, so this could be a problem for me as the data capture was with wireshark. This was advised by the people we purchased the FTP software from. Would you suggest other monitoring tool to look at?

Not sure why you think you need VLANs?

This is the first time i have done anything like this on a network level so apologies for being thick. I was under the impression because im using the switch as a normal switch already on my network, i thought i would have to VLAN off these ports to keep the settings already on that port on the router? (Natting/VLANs). Guessing this is not the case?

On your switch it is likely you would need to set up Link Aggregation (normally LACP).

This is something i will read up onto today. The problem is, we as a department have no access to the router, anything that needs to be changed we must ring the providers. Sucks because i would like to have a play myself.

I haven't personally used 2012's Teaming options (although the only difference from 2008 seems that the options have moved from vendor drivers to a standard windows UI), but a quick google gives this fairly decent guide:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmay...er-2012-do-i-need-to-configure-my-switch.aspx

Ideally you want to be using the LACP, as this load balances in both directions (Rather than the Switch Independent mode, which is more for failover).

Thanks for this, will have a look now.

Before you change anything though, you need to provide more details and clearly identify that this is the bottleneck.

Please bare with me i will explain the process from Files coming in as best as i can.

1. Data is sent via FTP
2. Hits the switch which is then sent to our FTP server hosted on a Hyper V
3. Data comes into FTP software - Note: Data Senders have no failed sends so i assume the Router / FTP server has no bottleneck?
   This is 1 cat5e cable going from Router to NIC on the server.
4. Then a file moving system pushes each file to another server (on the same vlan as the ftp server) - This cycles every minute and deletes at source.
5. Now on another server the files are processed in a number of different pieces of software. If they're 100 PDFs 20% of them will come as 'unknown' and will need resending from the customer (Need resending due to being deleted at source).

What i have tested at the minute.

• Changed the file transfer time from 1 minute to 5 - No difference.
• Removed the delete at source option - No difference still corrupt/unknown PDFs

E.g.
If the FTP access is remote, then via what speed connection? 60/50 Down/Up
Number of simultaneous connections? This is set to unlimited on the FTP software?
What is being transferred (lots of small files or large continuous files - can make a difference, as focus may then be on latency vs maximum transfer speed)?PDFs ranging from 15mb to 100mb
What disk subsystem are you transferring files from? Sorry, what do you mean by this?

 

[swain90]

Just chucking in my 20p's worth, can't seem to see my question already posted so I'm going to ask; If you try and connect to your FTP server locally, by just being connect to the switch then to going straight to the server, do you have any drops in PDF's then?

 

[Deleted member 138126]

Corrupt PDF files at the destination have nothing whatsoever to do with collisions. FTP uses TCP, which checksums every packet, and will request a packet is re-sent if it detects any corruption. So that's definitely not your problem.

Could be Antivirus on either the FTP server, or the 2nd server that does the file processing.

Fundamentally: FTP uses TCP, and therefore is a guaranteed delivery mechanism.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

Could be the software that "grabs" the PDF from the FTP server to move it to the 2nd server is corrupting it. So many things... First thing I would do is disable the moving software, and just let the PDFs land on the FTP server, and check them.

 

[JoeF1]

Just chucking in my 20p's worth, can't seem to see my question already posted so I'm going to ask; If you try and connect to your FTP server locally, by just being connect to the switch then to going straight to the server, do you have any drops in PDF's then?

We get none at all. Every file goes through fine. Although don't let this confuse you. This is only happening on a few customers. This isnt every transmission. I really should have said this in the opening post.

Corrupt PDF files at the destination have nothing whatsoever to do with collisions. FTP uses TCP, which checksums every packet, and will request a packet is re-sent if it detects any corruption. So that's definitely not your problem.

Could be Antivirus on either the FTP server, or the 2nd server that does the file processing.

Fundamentally: FTP uses TCP, and therefore is a guaranteed delivery mechanism.

At the start i said it was their software although i was shot down because apparently it 'works'... The above now stirs things up for me as if we ring the customer to send the 'unknown' files again they come through fine. This is why i changed the timings on the file transferring, me thinking this is what's causing a unknown PDF.

Antivirus disabled on both FTP and follow up servers to test. Still get the same. Again its just a few customers that this is happening too. Unfortunately these are also the biggest.

Thanks

 

[JoeF1]

Could be the software that "grabs" the PDF from the FTP server to move it to the 2nd server is corrupting it. So many things... First thing I would do is disable the moving software, and just let the PDFs land on the FTP server, and check them.

I can't believe i haven't tried this.

I will do this as my next test!