IBM Support

Configuring Broadcom teaming to always have the same MAC address - IBM System x

Troubleshooting


Problem

When using Broadcom's Server Load Balancing (SLB) teaming configuration, the Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to the team may change 'from boot' 'to boot'. This is because the team uses the MAC address of the first Network Interface Controller (NIC) that binds to the networking stack. Due to non-deterministic timing issues, the first NIC bound is unlikely to remain the same after several boots.

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H203089

Symptom

When using Broadcom's Server Load Balancing (SLB) teaming configuration, the Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to the team may change 'from boot' 'to boot'. This is because the team uses the MAC address of the first Network Interface Controller (NIC) that binds to the networking stack. Due to non-deterministic timing issues, the first NIC bound is unlikely to remain the same after several boots.

Affected configurations

The system is configured with at least one of the following:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter 32-bit, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter 64-bit, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise 32-bit, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise 64-bit, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard 32-bit, any service pack
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard 64-bit, any service pack

This tip is not system specific.
This tip is not option specific.

Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software.Please see the compatibility page for more information: http://www.ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/

Workaround

Starting with the Broadcom Advanced Server Program 6 (BASP6) driver version version 1.4.4 (which is on the Broadcom NetXtreme II T6.2.4.1 CD), the teaming driver has been changed to allow the user to specify which MAC address is used as the MAC address of the team.

This can be done by setting the following registry variable:

  \HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Blfp\Parameters\<te am_id>\TeamMacAddress

This registry parameter is of type REG_BINARY and should be six (6) bytes in length. The six (6) values should match the MAC address of one of the NICs in the team.

Additional information

Future versions of Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) will have a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows this setting to be configured. Until then, editing the registry is the only way to implement this feature.

Note: Since the current BACS GUI is not aware of this feature, the registry configuration changes will be deleted every time a configuration is saved by the GUI (i.e. a new NIC team created). Therefore, the registry change should be made after all other configuration has been completed in the BACS GUI. In addition, once the registry entry has been added, the system needs to be rebooted for Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) to read the registry entry and try to match the registry MAC address to a NIC's MAC address. The registry entry will remain present until the team is deleted.

 

Document Location

Worldwide


Operating System

System x:Windows Server 2008

System x:Windows Server 2008 x86-64 & 2008 R2


Applicable countries and regions

  • Worldwide
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Document Information

More support for:
System x->System x3800

Operating system(s):
Windows

Document number:
858826

Modified date:
30 January 2019

UID

ibm1MIGR-5087848

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