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rcdauria's avatar
rcdauria
Level 4
10 years ago
Solved

Using Alternate Network with the new "Preferred Network" feature

Hi guys,

I have the following scenario:

-Windows Master Server
Hostname VTXMASTER01
IP 10.78.0.193 (Production Network) 

-Windows Media Server 
Hostname VTXMEDIA01
IP1 10.78.0.194 (Production Network)
IP2 66.66.66.66 (Backup Network)
IP3 67.67.67.67 (Another Backup Network I will need to use eventualy - not important right now)

-Windows 2008 Client
Hostname VTXFPS02
IP 1 10.78.0.24 (Production Network)
IP 2 66.66.66.67 (Backup Network)

Requisite is quite obvious: would like the backup to pass via the 66.66.66.0/24 network.Tricky part is: customer would not like to use hosts file solutions & etc, so I went down and took a look at the new Preferred Network settings (replaces the REQUIRED_INTERFACE and REQUIRED_NETWORK ones).

Very confusing guide, but undersood I could basically insert the 66.66.66.0/24 network as a MATCH in both media server and client, and everything would work (the specified network would be matched/used as the preferred path between the media server and the client). However, no luck: the entry was skipped and the backup went via Prodution Network. Looks like bptestnetconn does not know the 66.66.66.0/24 path:

bptestnetconn -f --prefnet -H vtxfps02 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBU IP_ADDRESS_FAMILY configured to use Remote Addresses:  IPv4(yes) IPv6(no)
FL:                VTXFPS02 -> 10.78.0.24                              :      0 ms SRC: ANY
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tried changing the preferred network entry from MATCH to ONLY, but from this moment on the media server cannot connect to the client.

Any sugestions? I am using this feature the wrong way?

Thanks a lot in advance

Rafael

 

 

  • It all begins with communication. If you want traffic to traverse the 66.66.66.0 segment you need to start it there. In order to start it there the master server needs to be able to talk to the segment and the various addresses need to resolve. It is not really DNS tricks, it is what DNS is supposed to do. It helps eliminate communication errors because someone failed to put in an entry into everyone's hosts file. Here is how it could look:

    Master Server

    VTXMASTER01 - 10.78.0.193 (Production Network)

    VTXMASTER01-bkp1 - 66.66.66.68 (Backup Network 1)

    VTXMASTER01-bkp2 - 67.67.67.68 (Backup Network 2)

     

    Media Server 

    VTXMEDIA01 - 10.78.0.194 (Production Network)

    VTXMEDIA01-bkp1 - 66.66.66.66 (Backup Network 1 )

    VTXMEDIA01-bkp1 -  67.67.67.67 (Backup Network 2)

     

    Windows 2008 Client

    VTXFPS02 - 10.78.0.24 (Production Network)

    VTXFPS02-bkp1 - 66.66.66.67 (Backup Network)

    Your hosts file on the master would have entries for VTXFPS02-bkp1, VTXMEDIA01-bkp1, and VTXMEDIA01-bkp2. The media server would have entries for VTXMASTER01-bkp1, VTXMASTER01-bkp2, and VTXFPS02-bkp1. The client would have entries for VTXMASTER01-bkp1 and VTXMEDIA01-bkp1. Also there will need to be added the -bkp1 entries for the master and media in the client's registry for server access and in the master and media server.

    Using a BAN (Backup Area Network) is a much better way of handling backup traffic and from your post the customer has certainly moved down the path to take advantage of it. All they need now is to finish it by adding the DNS entries and extra interfaces to the master server.

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