Configuring The Switch For Microsoft Server Clustering - Dell Force10 C150 Configuration Manual

Since the virtual MAC address is never learned, traffic is forwarded to only one server rather than the
entire cluster, and failover and balancing are not preserved
Figure 25-4. Server Clustering: Multiple ARP Replies
Microsoft Server Cluster: IP Cluster
MAC Cluster
Figure 25-5. Server Clustering: Failover and Balancing Not Preserved
Microsoft Server Cluster: IP Cluster
MAC Cluster

Configuring the Switch for Microsoft Server Clustering

To preserve failover and balancing, the Dell Force10 switch must learn the cluster's virtual MAC address,
and it must forward traffic destined for the server cluster out all member ports in the VLAN connected to
the cluster. To ensure that this happens, you must configure the command
Force10 switch at the time that the Microsoft cluster is configured
As shown in Figure 25-6, the server MAC address is given in the Ethernet frame header of the ARP reply,
while the virtual MAC address representing the cluster is given in the payload. The
command directs the system to discover that there are different MAC addresses in an ARP reply and
associate the virtual MAC address with the VLAN connected to the cluster. Then, all traffic destined for
the cluster is flooded out of all member ports. Since all of the servers in the cluster receive traffic, failover
and balancing are preserved.
Source MAC: MAC S1
Destination MAC: MAC Client
Type: 0x0806
IP S1
Server1: Ethernet Frame Header
MAC S1
IP S2
Server2:
MAC S2
IP S3
Server3:
MAC S3
IP S4
Server4:
MAC S4
IP S1
Server1:
MAC S1
IP S2
Server2:
MAC S2
IP S3
Server3:
MAC S3
IP S4
Server4:
MAC S4
(Figure 25-5).
Source IP: IP S1
Source MAC: MAC Cluster
ARP Reply
VLAN 1
VLAN 1
vlan-flooding
ip
(Figure 25-6).
CRC
Pad
Client
fnC0027mp
Client
Data
fnC0028mp
on the Dell
vlan-flooding
ip
Layer 2 | 571