Starwind Vs Dell R620 private Ethernet

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BenM
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2018 7:17 am

Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:54 am

Hi

On the last CAU reboot, my cluster nodes gained an "ethernet" interface - it is an NDIS device put in place (by Dell management software) to allow communication with the DRAC unit from the host without having to use a real interface.

Starwind appears to recognise two interfaces on that 'network' 169.254.0.2, 169.254.1.13 on both cluster nodes.

Coincidentally(?) the Starwind cluster service either didn't start or failed - however a manual start worked with no problems.

My questions are as follows:

1. What does Starwind do with these interfaces? does it try to use them?
2. If the new NDIS interfaces interfere with Starwind (or the other way around) how do I stop Starwind from attempting to use them? (Powershell only guys - the school can't spring for a Full License!)

Regards

Ben
Michael (staff)
Staff
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2016 10:16 am

Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:33 pm

Hello Ben,
Thank you for your interest in StarWind VSAN.
By design, StarWind VSAN scans all the interfaces, present in the system during the service start. That is why it recognized them once they appear.
From your description, I assume that you didn't configure them to be used by StarWind, so the answer to the 1st question would be no, it's not trying to use them.
As for your question about "Starwind cluster service" - could you please clarify what exact service are you talking about?
Could it be Microsoft Failover cluster service? By the way, it's must identify those interfaces as well and could start using them for cluster node communication.
BenM
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2018 7:17 am

Wed May 01, 2019 9:40 am

Hi Michael

Sorry for the delay in replying - Easter Holidays and the usual post holiday chaos (including an unscheduled cluster power fail)

The Stawind Cluster Service is exactly that - that is its name in service manager....

Name: Starwind Cluster Service
Description: Manages StarWind Cluster functionality and responsible for storing and sharing StarWind cluster configuration data.
Startup: Automatic
Log On As: Local System

Regarding the FailOver cluster manager - it identified the interfaces and did indeed try to use them for cluster comms, only it failed - so I just disabled them as far as the cluster is concerned.

I was really looking to find a reason why the SW Cluster service failed to start after a scheduled, clean, shutdown of a host node, and thought that it might do a Microsoft Fail Over CLuster Serveice trick and try to use them just be casue they appeared - clutching at straws really...

Ben
Boris (staff)
Staff
Posts: 805
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:18 am

Thu May 02, 2019 2:35 pm

StarWind Cluster Service is required in VMware environments for VVols to operate properly. It is not required in Hyper-V environments. You can safely disable it.
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