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Host/Guest NIC conflict Broadcom

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miked

unread,
Aug 17, 2006, 7:19:02 AM8/17/06
to
I've searched the web and the newsgroups - others have this issue but so far
I have seen no solution or confirmation that a problem *actually* exists.

Setup
Dell PE2950 running 2003 R2. 2 x Broadcom Netxtreem II
VS 2005 R2 guest 2003 R2.

I am trying to give the guest access to the network through the shared host
NIC.
All divers are up to date.

It seems that each NIC is mutually exclusive to either the host or the
guest. I have tried unbinding, rebinding, uninstalling the virtual driver
(host), re-installing VD (host), removing MSVS, multiple reboots in between
etc but all to no avail.

In every case, only the host or the guest can access the network ant any one
time. I start the guest and the host looses network activity. If I disable
the NIC on the guest the host can once again access the network.

The switch is able to handle multiple MAC addresses through a single port -
tested and working on VPC running 2000 server.

Has anyone found a solution to this? If not has anyone identified where the
problem lies - Microsoft or Broadcom?

Thanks all in advance and sorry if longwinded!

Mike

Jerry

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Aug 17, 2006, 12:09:20 PM8/17/06
to
It seems that something can go wrong with the embedded NICs or their
drivers. Did you recently take a power spike?

Run diagnostics on one of the NICs and see if the onboard CPU fails. If so,
reboot the host in safe mode, uninstall the NICs and let the system find
them and install them again. See if the onboard CPU fails now. If not,
you're probably ok. If so, you probably have to reinstall the host
operating system.

I just went through this (my NICs were teamed together--don't know if yours
are). I had to reinstall the host O/S to get everything working.

Then again, what do I know?

Jerry


miked

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Aug 18, 2006, 7:15:01 AM8/18/06
to
Thanks for your input Jerry.

I have already run the diags and no problems reported. Also I have
reinstalled the host OS (2003 R2) three times now :( The server, a dell 2950
is brand new.

I am not using teaming and I know that a 'fudge' would be to dedicate one
NIC to the guest but I like many others I suspect have a genuine reason for
requiring two NICs available to both the host and the guest. I just want
this to work out-of-the-box.

As I mentioned earlier, others have reported a similar problem but as yet no
resolution or culprit has been identified.

Has anyone else resolved this?

Mike

Brett Beggs

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Aug 24, 2006, 7:50:02 PM8/24/06
to
Hopefully this dosent double post....but here goes again...

I'm having the same problems that you have described and using a similar
configuration (Dell 2950, Server 2003 R2, Braodcom Integrated NIC).

I've been attempting for the last two day to share the network card between
the Host OS and the Guest OS, with no luck. As soon as you bind the guest to
the Host NIC, the host goes offline. The guest os can ping within its
subnet, but can't reach anything beyond its gateway.

I was going to place an intel nic in the server to test, but i dont have
anything on hand for the PCIe bus.

-Brett

Bill Grant

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Aug 24, 2006, 8:07:32 PM8/24/06
to
It certainly sounds like a problem with the Broadcom driver. If there
isn't a later driver available for it, trying a different card would be my
next step.

DCP

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Aug 25, 2006, 2:23:20 PM8/25/06
to
I am experiancing same problem with Dell PE 1950 with Broadcom Integrated
NetXtreme II NIC. I am running Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition with
Virtual Server 2005 R2. Whenever Guest OS runs on this server Host OS
network goes offline.

I have add Intel PRO/1000 PT Server adapate to host OS and bind this NIC to
Guest OS and everything runs smooth now. Host OS and Guest OS both are able
to share Intel NIC with full network connectivity. I have disable Broadcom
on board NIC for now.

I am hoping that new driver for Broadcom NIC wil available soon.

Thanks,
DP

"Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
news:enLwAu9x...@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

baillard

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Aug 30, 2006, 11:14:13 PM8/30/06
to
I have been working with both Dell and Microsoft on this issue and
solved it today. I confirmed that the lack of the Scalable Networking Pack
(SNP) patch
"WindowsServer2003.WindowsXP-KB912222-v9-x64-ENU.exe"
was causing the issue. Installing it fixed the connectivty, and removing it
broke it again. I have yet to test this under 32 bit Windows, but assume
that
"WindowsServer2003-KB912222-v9-x86-ENU.exe"
will fix it there as well. I only installed the SNP, no registry settings
were changed or reconfigured.

I have requested that Microsoft publish a KB article on this issue with the
results of the testing (I just gave the summary here).


"miked" <mi...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9CBBEC50-83D5-4136...@microsoft.com...

DCP

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Aug 31, 2006, 9:33:08 AM8/31/06
to
My testing of Broadcom Netxtreme II 5708C NIC with virtual server, I have
SNP patch installed on 32-bit Windows 2003 OS on Dell PE 1950 Server. It is
included with Broadcom Driver and TOE engine CD that came with Server. I
still experience same problem of network connectivity lost whenever guest OS
runs on this server.
I have followed other suggestion from Microsoft web site with turning of
Firewall, IPSec and other services with TOE enabled on Windows 20003. I have
tried disabling TOE as well to simplify the setup but same problem exists.

"baillard" <bail...@msn.com> wrote in message
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Marco

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Sep 5, 2006, 8:26:56 AM9/5/06
to

I'm expericing the same problem on my 2950 poweredge.
When i install the patch 1 image will run, only when i start a second image the machine losses the network on the host.

Installed: Windeos 2003 Server Enterprise SP1
Virtual Server 2005

Posted via http://www.VirtualServerFaq.com - Brought to you by Business Information Technology Shop - http://www.bitshop.com

chris

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Oct 3, 2006, 12:18:26 PM10/3/06
to

For the virtual server and host os conflict issue that you speak of, the Scaleable Network Pack from Microsoft will need to be downloaded and installed on the host OS. The Netxtreme II Nic has a TCP Offload Engine built in to the hardware. The SNP installer is a requirement for the NIC to function properly.

MS SNP:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912222/en-us

I would also recommend that you install the entire Broadcom Advanced Control Suite and driver set from Dell in this case. You will need to run the setup.exe from the Windows dir after the file has been extracted. This is an umbrella installer and is recommended by Dell. This will will load the correct intermediate drivers for this release of NIC. DO NOT USE DEVICE MANAGER for the installation of the driver files!!!! This will not load the appropriate intermediate drivers for optimized performance.

Dell Broadcom Netxtreme II driver pack:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/Bcom_LAN_NX2_26_W2K3_A01.exe

Last but not least, the Online User Guide for all of the 9G platforms has documentation that explains the TOE function on these Broadcom NICS.

PE2950 Netxtreme drivers and TOE documentation:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe2950/multlang/nic_toe/XF672A01MR.pdf

If this works, please share it with the post. I have had a great deal of success with this process on windows based host OS. The same process should be followed whether or not the TOE Licensing Key is installed.

-Chris

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

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Oct 9, 2006, 12:32:03 PM10/9/06
to
Hi Cris,

I have experienced a similar issue with the Broadcomm nics and VS, where
there is very limited to no connectivity for physical connections from
physical workstations to the lan nic - yet VMs connected using the lan nic
are fine.

Following these steps corrects the problem, but does create the bluescreen
condition linked to in the documentation. I haven't installed the hotfix
yet, but I anticipate that will work.

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"chris" <chris_...@dell.com> wrote in message
news:5a3b5141-0638-471e...@text.giganews.com...

rmon...@gmail.com

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Oct 13, 2006, 3:13:54 PM10/13/06
to
Same problem here: PE2950 w/ Broadcom NetX2, Win2k3 R2 64 + Virtual
Server 64.

Did all the steps required (Downloaded and installed Dell Driver for
Broadcom NIC from Dell's FTP) and installed Scaleable Network Pack from
Microsoft, but I still have network issues.

The host VS machine can't ping the Default Gateway.... but the virtual
machines are working just fine.

Any ideas?

Tks,

Rodrigo


Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] escreveu:

> Hi Cris,
>
> I have experienced a similar issue with the Broadcomm nics and VS, where
> there is very limited to no connectivity for physical connections from
> physical workstations to the lan nic - yet VMs connected using the lan nic
> are fine.
>
> Following these steps corrects the problem, but does create the bluescreen
> condition linked to in the documentation. I haven't installed the hotfix
> yet, but I anticipate that will work.
>
> --
> Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> SBS Rocks !
> ----------------------
> "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
> understand." - Confucius

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

unread,
Oct 18, 2006, 4:46:22 PM10/18/06
to
Following the earlier steps corrected the issue for a short time, but if any
changes are made to the nics or virtual network configurations, we are back
at square one with no connectivity.

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


<rmon...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160766834....@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

Nick

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Oct 26, 2006, 1:33:42 PM10/26/06
to
In the administration guide for VS, it does suggest using separate
adapters for the Host OS and the Guest OSes. It also suggest using
that the guest adapter be unbound of all services/protocols except for
the MSVS service.

Now are these issues experienced as a result of attempting to bind the
guest OS directly to the physical adapter? If so, then that too would
not conform to the administration guide. Essentially, you'll want to
create a virtual network first, bind it to the physical adapter, and
subsequently use the virtual network as the network adapter for the
guest OS. I've done this on my NetXtreme II adapter and I do not see
the problems being experienced. It works both with and without the SNP
patch installed.

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

unread,
Oct 26, 2006, 4:15:50 PM10/26/06
to
Hi Nick,

There should be no issue with guest and host using the same nic. That's very
common, and I've not had any issues with any NIC other than the Broadcom
NetXtreme II.

Creating a virtual network is standard practice as well, I'm sure. In the
same box with the same host and VM's, an Intel nic works and the Broadcom
doesn't - only the Virtual machines *or* physical machines on the lan can
have connectivity - not both at the same time.

Like I mention, works with intel nic, not with broadcom.

Have you got both VM's and physical machines on the same network (lan), and
it's working for you?

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"Nick" <iride...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1161884021.9...@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

Nick

unread,
Oct 27, 2006, 1:01:41 AM10/27/06
to
Hi Les,

I was only explaining what the administration guide suggests in their
best practices as a means to alleviate the problem being experienced.
Here's the excerpt from the guide:

"Virtual machines that require a high level of network activity can
burden the physical network adapters on the physical computer. This in
turn can make it difficult to connect to the host operating system or
administer the host operating system using the network adapters. To
alleviate this problem, we recommend that the physical computer be
configured with two or more network adapters. One of the network
adapters should be dedicated for use by only the host operating system.
To do this, unbind the Virtual Machine Network service from this
dedicated network adapter. You should unbind all network protocols (for
example Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol [TCP/IP] and
Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange [IPX/SPX])
except for the Virtual Machine Network service from all of the other
network adapters that you will use for virtual machines. This will
ensure that these network adapters are dedicated to Virtual Server
networking."

While it's true a single adapter configuration can work, it's not ideal
based on the above.

Now an Intel NIC may work while the Broadcom NetXtreme II doesn't in
your situation, is it really an apples to apples comparison? The Intel
NIC does not support the Task Offload Engine (TOE) that is supported in
the Scalable Network Package. The Broadcom adapter does, but through
the use of a virtual bus device...something unique to only the
NetXtreme II adapter at this time from my understanding. Based on
their documentation, limitations are experienced because of the use of
the virtual bus device, but mostly based on Microsoft's lack of support
for the NetXtreme II's architecture. This is likely one of those
situations.

Now given that, I did not have a problem described here. Virtual
server worked where both the Host OS and the Guest OS communicated to
remote systems without any problems. I was even able to pull down the
OS for my guest OS over a mock PXE connection to my RIS server.

Here's what I did:

Installed the Host OS (win2k3 SP1) on an NTFS partition.
Installed the driver and Broadcom management software accompanying my
Dell server.
Updated the the OS with all the patches.
Installed IIS (required for MSVS)
Installed Scalable Network Package.
Installed MSVS 2005 R2.
Launched MSVS and configured browser security to include site as part
of local intranet (tired of damn login requests since Host OS was not
on an Active Directory yet).
Enabled VRMS.
Created a virtual network with name Vnetwork and bound it to the
Broadcom adapter.
Created a Guest OS and configured it to use the Vnetwork I created as
the network adapter.
Booted the Guest OS and allowed for it to PXE boot to my RIS server.
I loaded the Guest OS to completion with Windows 2003 SP1.
Both the Guest OS and Host OS are able to communicate to various remote
systems on my network.

Good luck.

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

unread,
Oct 27, 2006, 10:25:42 AM10/27/06
to
Hi Nick,

Thanks for the detailed steps. I'm encouraged by your success, and I'll
review my steps in the hopes that I can make it work :-).

At this time, other than the fact that I have a connectivity issue and you
don't - one differenc is that I had a stop error after installing SNP. I
wasn't surprised by it, as that possibility is mentioned. I installed the
hotfix for it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919948/

I'd just like to have the nics work. TOE or not. One thing I haven't yet
done is pulled the TOE key - allthough by my understanding I have TOE
disabled on the nics via the management software.

--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"Nick" <iride...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1161925301.6...@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

Nick

unread,
Oct 27, 2006, 11:53:33 AM10/27/06
to

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] wrote:

> I'd just like to have the nics work. TOE or not. One thing I haven't yet
> done is pulled the TOE key - allthough by my understanding I have TOE
> disabled on the nics via the management software.
>

___________________________________

I hear ya. I just wanted to make sure your frustration isn't
displaced. Let me know how it goes.

Ben Blair

unread,
Oct 31, 2006, 1:43:33 PM10/31/06
to
FWIW, we had similar problems with a couple of dell 1950's and
disabling the TOE in the BACS software didn't do anything. Only
physically removing the TOE key fixed the problem.

In case anyone's searching for it, one odd symptom we saw was that tcp
socket receive calls would block indefinitely if the receive buffer was
> 4 MB, but would work fine (but slowly) if it was less than 4 MB.

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

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Oct 31, 2006, 3:39:14 PM10/31/06
to
I'm working with Broadcom on this issue. It took them a long time, but they
have finally been able to reproduce the issue. No solution yet.

--

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"Ben Blair" <benb...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1162320213.6...@e64g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...

Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]

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Nov 1, 2006, 7:49:03 PM11/1/06
to
I can confirm that disabling IPMI on the Broadcom NetXtreme II NICs is a
valid workaround to this problem.

Here is one procedure:

http://wiki.ncsa.uiuc.edu/wiki/Dell_PE1950_NIC_Firmware_Workaround

The procedure provided to me by Broadcom is done from within windows, can be
done via RDP, and doesn't require a restart, allthough there is a very short
network disconnect. I don't yet have permission from Broadcom to distribute
the files, but I've requested they make them publicly available.


--
Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]
-----------------------------------------------------------
SBS Rocks !
----------------------
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll
understand." - Confucius


"Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP]" <les.c...@DEL.cfive.ca>
wrote in message news:%23R0piyS$GHA....@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

Jim Potter

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Nov 13, 2006, 9:18:01 PM11/13/06
to
I spoke with Broadcom and they said they would look into the issue and call
me back. I have yet to receive a response. I opened a ticket with Dell.
The issue must not resolvable at this time because they have agreed to send
me 10 Intel dual port NICs in place of the Broadcom NICs.

"Jim Potter" wrote:

> I also have 10 Dell 1950s and have ran into the same problems. On 8 of the
> servers, the problem appeared to be resolved after installing the SNP pack
> and installing the latest drivers from Dell and Broadcom. However, I
> continue to loose connectivity to one of the NICs. I disabled one of the
> NICs and only use one NIC for the physical server and virtual servers. Not
> the desired way, but it is the only way I could get it to work at the moment.
>
> On two of the servers (built identical as the ones above), I loose
> connectivity to the physical server exactly 10-minutes after a virtual server
> has started. Once I shut down the virtual server, I can then access the
> physical server. I haven't been able to resolve this problem. I have
> installed the latest drivers from Dell and the Broadcom support has been
> useless.
>

Marco

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Nov 29, 2006, 8:12:16 AM11/29/06
to

Remove KB912222 if this is done , my problem wasn't solved.

There was 1 file that couldn't bij overwritten. ( wshtcpip.dll ) In use.

Changed the value in registry that make this dll active.

Restarted the server, copied the "old"file, and changed the registry again.

After the last reboot it works like a dream.

Posted via http://www.VirtualServerFaq.com - Brought to you by Business Information Technology Shop - http://www.bitshop.com

Frank Smith

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Sep 11, 2007, 4:30:52 PM9/11/07
to

same problem on Windows 2008 WSv (Veridian). It wasnt fixed in this release. ugh.

Augusto Alvarez

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Sep 15, 2007, 1:44:37 PM9/15/07
to
Had same issue with also the same Broadcome network adapter. It was not a
problem of virtualization, it was related to the drivers adapter. In one
case I also tried the latest version for the driver and didn't work, neither
the one that Windows installed... I used the one that came with the server's
CD and then it started to work.

Cheers!

augusto alvarez | it pro | southworks s.r.l.
http://staff.southworks.net/aalvarez

"Frank Smith" <frank...@liox.com> wrote in message
news:9645d9e1-3e81-4b38...@text.giganews.com...

Bernard Lai

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May 6, 2008, 4:17:26 AM5/6/08
to

THe new drivers from Broadcom solved it for me. System is Dell 2950.
Cheers,
Bernard
6 May 2008

green

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May 9, 2008, 5:33:01 AM5/9/08
to
Experiencing similar problems here...The hosts servers are HP Proliant DL385
G1.

at one point or another the host looses networkconnectivity!
removing HP teaming had no effect what so ever.

no solution yet....

need serious help on this one....

afzal

unread,
Sep 5, 2008, 8:44:58 AM9/5/08
to

> I've searched the web and the newsgroups - others have this issue but so far
> I have seen no solution or confirmation that a problem *actually* exists.
>
> Setup
> Dell PE2950 running 2003 R2. 2 x Broadcom Netxtreem II
> VS 2005 R2 guest 2003 R2.
>
> I am trying to give the guest access to the network through the shared host
> NIC.
> All divers are up to date.
>
> It seems that each NIC is mutually exclusive to either the host or the
> guest. I have tried unbinding, rebinding, uninstalling the virtual driver
> (host), re-installing VD (host), removing MSVS, multiple reboots in between
> etc but all to no avail.
>
> In every case, only the host or the guest can access the network ant any one
> time. I start the guest and the host looses network activity. If I disable
> the NIC on the guest the host can once again access the network.
>
> The switch is able to handle multiple MAC addresses through a single port -
> tested and working on VPC running 2000 server.
>
> Has anyone found a solution to this? If not has anyone identified where the
> problem lies - Microsoft or Broadcom?
>
> Thanks all in advance and sorry if longwinded!
>
> Mike

Looks like there was an issue with the broadcom driver:

http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/faq_drivers.php#100

from the URL above
"
100.) Why does the Virtual server host hang when I use the BCM5708 (NetXtreme_II) device under MSVS (Microsoft Virtual Server)?

There was a compatibility issue between MSVS and IPMI. The issue has been addressed in the latest drivers posted on our website: http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/netxtremeii.php
"

got the drive off the DELL site and all works fine now.

Afzal

afzal

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Sep 5, 2008, 8:44:58 AM9/5/08
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