Users Guide

Configuring the Virtual Network 23
Configuring the Virtual Network
This section offers guidance with the hardware and software setup, and
best practice recommendations for configuring virtual machines (VMs).
The information presented here builds on the virtual network types and usage
models discussed in previous sections.
Hardware Setup
This section helps in determining how many network adapters are required to
support various implementations of the Microsoft
®
Hyper-V
®
Server 2008
operating system. Table 5-1 to Table 5-4 discuss two key Hyper-V
implementation features: iSCSI support and Failover Clustering support.
To use the tables, determine the combination of these features you need in
your Hyper-V implementation.
The assumptions used in the Hyper V configurations are:
• The system has a minimum of two built-in network adapters (LOMs).
NOTE: Some systems have four built-in adapters.
• Systems are dedicated to hosting VMs. These systems have no other
Microsoft
®
Windows Server
®
2008 roles installed.
These recommendations are based on the following best practices.
Other combinations may be possible, but are not recommended:
• All iSCSI implementations use two connections to reduce single points of
failure. Additionally, iSCSI connections do not share physical network
adapters with adapters used for other types of connections like parent
partition network, VM network(s), etc.
• If you use an external virtual network, the parent partition does not share
a physical network adapter with an adapter connected to a virtual switch.