Hyper-V NIC setup with SBS 2008
I have Hyper-V Server 2008 installed on a server with two NICs. The first NIC, BroadcomNic#1, is assigned 192.168.0.2 and is networked to my notebook which has the Hyper-V MMC. This works good.
The second NIC on the server is BroadcomeNic#2 and I do not know if I am supposed to assign this an IP and give it the DNS servers of my ISP and the address of my gateway.
In the Hyper-V MMC I created a new virtual network called ‘New Virtual Network’. It is ‘external’ and I selected BroadcomeNic#2. I did not check off the box to ‘Enable Virtual LAN ID.
I created a VM and installed SBS 2008. In the VM properties I added a legacy adaptor and then removed the virtual adaptor that was created by default. In the network properties I selected ‘New Virtual Network’ which is what BroadcomeNic#2. I did not check off the box to ‘Enable Virtual LAN ID’.
In the network connections page in SBS 2008 the NIC shows up as a Broadcom NIC and I can assign it an IP address. I want the SBS server to be on the 192.168.2.0 network. Do I have to assign BroadcomeNic#2 an IP address on the Hyper-V server itself or do I leave this blank and handle the IP assignments from the Virtual Network Manager?
I want the SBS server to ultimately have the IP address 192.168.2.2
Thanks
Answers
- No, the NIC linked to the external virtual network does not need an IP address on the host. The NIC is used only by the vms on the virtual network. You do not need to do anything about VLANs unless you are running VLANs on your physical network.
If you want the SBS server to be 192.168.2.2 , simply manually assign it that IP. With a domain controller you do not use the DNS at your ISP. The domain controller itself is the DNS server for all domain users. The wizard should configure that for you.
Where are the clients for this server going to be? Will they be on a physical network linked to NIC#2?
Bill- Marked As Answer byVincent HuMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, July 08, 2009 6:25 AM
Hi,
The "default virtual LAN adapter" your mentioned is the synthetic network adapter.
In Hyper-V there are TWO kinds of network adapters inside the virtual machines, they are the "Network Adapter" and the "Legacy Network Adapter". The difference between those are very simple. The Legacy Network Adapter is needed when you need PXE boot or your OS needs access to the network before you can install "Integrated Components". That happens when you try to run "Some new package solutions from Microsoft" on Hyper-V. The "Network Adapter" requires that you install "Integrated Components" (The "Integrated Components" contains the synthetic driver that is required for the Network Adapter" to work. So if you want to be 100% sure that the network is going to be there during the installation phase, use the "Legacy Network Adapter".
In addition, I also include some articles about Hyper-V networking, you can refer to:
Understanding Networking with Hyper-V
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/01/08/understanding-networking-with-hyper-v.aspx
How does basic networking work in Hyper-V?
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/16/how-does-basic-networking-work-in-hyper-v.aspx
Configuring Virtual Networks
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816585.aspx
Best regards,
Vincent Hu
- Marked As Answer byVincent HuMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, July 08, 2009 6:25 AM
All Replies
- No, the NIC linked to the external virtual network does not need an IP address on the host. The NIC is used only by the vms on the virtual network. You do not need to do anything about VLANs unless you are running VLANs on your physical network.
If you want the SBS server to be 192.168.2.2 , simply manually assign it that IP. With a domain controller you do not use the DNS at your ISP. The domain controller itself is the DNS server for all domain users. The wizard should configure that for you.
Where are the clients for this server going to be? Will they be on a physical network linked to NIC#2?
Bill- Marked As Answer byVincent HuMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, July 08, 2009 6:25 AM
- Thanks Bill, that explains it!
Yes, the clients will be on the same network as NIC#2. So I will leave all the BroadcomNIC#2 settings on the physical Hyper-V server blank. I will set my IP inside SBS 2008 on the VM and put my DNS in the forwarders.
When I create the VM for SBS it creates a virtual LAN adaptor by default. When I add a legacy adaptor, am I correct to delete the virtual adaptor from the setings? Hi,
The "default virtual LAN adapter" your mentioned is the synthetic network adapter.
In Hyper-V there are TWO kinds of network adapters inside the virtual machines, they are the "Network Adapter" and the "Legacy Network Adapter". The difference between those are very simple. The Legacy Network Adapter is needed when you need PXE boot or your OS needs access to the network before you can install "Integrated Components". That happens when you try to run "Some new package solutions from Microsoft" on Hyper-V. The "Network Adapter" requires that you install "Integrated Components" (The "Integrated Components" contains the synthetic driver that is required for the Network Adapter" to work. So if you want to be 100% sure that the network is going to be there during the installation phase, use the "Legacy Network Adapter".
In addition, I also include some articles about Hyper-V networking, you can refer to:
Understanding Networking with Hyper-V
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/01/08/understanding-networking-with-hyper-v.aspx
How does basic networking work in Hyper-V?
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/16/how-does-basic-networking-work-in-hyper-v.aspx
Configuring Virtual Networks
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816585.aspx
Best regards,
Vincent Hu
- Marked As Answer byVincent HuMSFT, ModeratorWednesday, July 08, 2009 6:25 AM
Hi,
I want to see if the information provided was helpful. Your feedback is very useful for the further research. Please feel free to let me know if you have addition questions.
Best regards,
Vincent Hu

