NIC Tolerance help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that there
are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one server.

Eddie,

I will presume that you have a situation where you have both switches
connected to the same LAN and all are on the same subnet.

I have this same setup except only one switch.

Both NIC's can provide support to the same subnet however if the server is
your master browser you need to have one of the NIC's set to "Disable NetBIOS
over TCP/IP" otherwise you'll run into a "multi-homed server" issue (see KB
135404) and you'll get error msg 8021 & 8032 in your logs. The 2nd NIC can be
set to "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" OR use the default setting if DHCP
applies in your enviroment.

Now I also presume that you have a one NIC to one switch configuration. If
this is the case you will not have the redundancy or fail over protection
your looking for unless each switch is interconnected. Reason being is that
one of the NIC's fail the switch that the NIC is serving will be dead. Also
keep in mind that if the NIC fails that has the "Enable NetBIOS..." like I
indiucated above you will still need to touch the reamining NIC config to
reinstate full funtion.

Eddie, keep in mind there are no absolutes. All you can do with limited
resouces is to minimize and like myself you'll not be able to eliminate.

Don

"Eddie" wrote:

> Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
> server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
> addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
> server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that there
> are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
> server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one server.

thanks, perfect answer

"Don" wrote:

> Eddie,
>
> I will presume that you have a situation where you have both switches
> connected to the same LAN and all are on the same subnet.
>
> I have this same setup except only one switch.
>
> Both NIC's can provide support to the same subnet however if the server is
> your master browser you need to have one of the NIC's set to "Disable NetBIOS
> over TCP/IP" otherwise you'll run into a "multi-homed server" issue (see KB
> 135404) and you'll get error msg 8021 & 8032 in your logs. The 2nd NIC can be
> set to "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" OR use the default setting if DHCP
> applies in your enviroment.
>
> Now I also presume that you have a one NIC to one switch configuration. If
> this is the case you will not have the redundancy or fail over protection
> your looking for unless each switch is interconnected. Reason being is that
> one of the NIC's fail the switch that the NIC is serving will be dead. Also
> keep in mind that if the NIC fails that has the "Enable NetBIOS..." like I
> indiucated above you will still need to touch the reamining NIC config to
> reinstate full funtion.
>
> Eddie, keep in mind there are no absolutes. All you can do with limited
> resouces is to minimize and like myself you'll not be able to eliminate.
>
> Don
>
> "Eddie" wrote:
>
> > Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
> > server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
> > addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
> > server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that there
> > are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
> > server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one server.

one question what do mean my master browser?

"Don" wrote:

> Eddie,
>
> I will presume that you have a situation where you have both switches
> connected to the same LAN and all are on the same subnet.
>
> I have this same setup except only one switch.
>
> Both NIC's can provide support to the same subnet however if the server is
> your master browser you need to have one of the NIC's set to "Disable NetBIOS
> over TCP/IP" otherwise you'll run into a "multi-homed server" issue (see KB
> 135404) and you'll get error msg 8021 & 8032 in your logs. The 2nd NIC can be
> set to "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" OR use the default setting if DHCP
> applies in your enviroment.
>
> Now I also presume that you have a one NIC to one switch configuration. If
> this is the case you will not have the redundancy or fail over protection
> your looking for unless each switch is interconnected. Reason being is that
> one of the NIC's fail the switch that the NIC is serving will be dead. Also
> keep in mind that if the NIC fails that has the "Enable NetBIOS..." like I
> indiucated above you will still need to touch the reamining NIC config to
> reinstate full funtion.
>
> Eddie, keep in mind there are no absolutes. All you can do with limited
> resouces is to minimize and like myself you'll not be able to eliminate.
>
> Don
>
> "Eddie" wrote:
>
> > Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
> > server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
> > addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
> > server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that there
> > are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
> > server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one server.

HP, and some others, make Nics with "Teaming" capability. They are
specialized Nics come with their own software to make it all work.


--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com


"Eddie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:FBF25927-A05B-4F23-B9A3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
> server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
> addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
> server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that
there
> are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
> server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one
server.

Hey Eddie,

The master browser if broke for example will prevent users from browsing the
network for any network resources. Such as browsing the My Network. This is
quite the bad experience.

If you refer to the KB in my previous post there are reference to this and
the cmd of "browstat status". Run this cmd at a cmd prompt and you'll see
what computer on the network is the master browser and what computers are
basically backups. The cmd has several options that you might want to
explore. Don't be suprised if they change.

And yes Phillip in the other response is correct about manufactures having
fail over NIC's but I based my answer upon the thought that you were looking
to use what you had.

"Eddie" wrote:

> one question what do mean my master browser?
>
> "Don" wrote:
>
> > Eddie,
> >
> > I will presume that you have a situation where you have both switches
> > connected to the same LAN and all are on the same subnet.
> >
> > I have this same setup except only one switch.
> >
> > Both NIC's can provide support to the same subnet however if the server is
> > your master browser you need to have one of the NIC's set to "Disable NetBIOS
> > over TCP/IP" otherwise you'll run into a "multi-homed server" issue (see KB
> > 135404) and you'll get error msg 8021 & 8032 in your logs. The 2nd NIC can be
> > set to "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" OR use the default setting if DHCP
> > applies in your enviroment.
> >
> > Now I also presume that you have a one NIC to one switch configuration. If
> > this is the case you will not have the redundancy or fail over protection
> > your looking for unless each switch is interconnected. Reason being is that
> > one of the NIC's fail the switch that the NIC is serving will be dead. Also
> > keep in mind that if the NIC fails that has the "Enable NetBIOS..." like I
> > indiucated above you will still need to touch the reamining NIC config to
> > reinstate full funtion.
> >
> > Eddie, keep in mind there are no absolutes. All you can do with limited
> > resouces is to minimize and like myself you'll not be able to eliminate.
> >
> > Don
> >
> > "Eddie" wrote:
> >
> > > Ok here is my question. I would like to beable to have my windows 2003 std
> > > server with 2 nics to both be enabled and have them with seperate ip
> > > addresses plugged into different cisco switches. I would like to have the
> > > server setup so if one nic dies the other kicks on or what ever so that there
> > > are no network outages. I need some ideas. I can't afford to add another
> > > server yet so I need to somehow provide fault tolerance with this one server.