NIC Teaming in Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 has a number of great new features. One of the most welcome new features is the ability to create NIC teams. A NIC team is a collection of network interfaces (NICs) that work together as one. There are many benefits to building a NIC team. The main benefit is bandwidth aggregation. NIC teaming allows the bandwidth of every NIC in the team to be combined, thereby delivering more bandwidth than any single NIC in the team would be able to handle by itself.

Another noteworthy benefit to NIC teaming is redundancy. NIC teaming protects the server against NIC failures. If a NIC within a NIC team fails then the team is able to continue functioning in spite of the failure, but at a reduced capacity.

Technically speaking, NIC teaming isn't an entirely new feature. Previous versions of Windows Server supported NIC teaming, but only with some very significant restrictions. The main restriction was that the NIC team had to be implemented at the hardware level, not the software level. This meant that you had to purchase server hardware and NICs that natively supported NIC teaming. Furthermore, the server and the NICs had to be provided by the same vendor. Needless to say, this approach to NIC teaming was expensive to say the least.

These limitations are gone in Windows Server 2012. Now NIC teaming can be implemented at the software level, so there is no need to purchase specialized server hardware. Furthermore, the NIC team does not need to be vendor consistent. You can create a NIC team consisting of NICs from multiple vendors.

Another benefit is that a NIC team can be huge. You can combine up to 32 physical NICs into a NIC team. Imagine for a moment that you built a team of 32 ten gigabit NICs. That would be the functional equivalent to having a 320 gigabit connection (minus overhead).
NIC Team Uses

Right about now you might be wondering under what circumstances you can use a NIC team. Generally speaking, a NIC team can be used in any situation that a physical NIC would be used in. NIC teams can handle normal server level traffic, but they can also be used by virtual machines. Having said that, there are a few exceptions. NIC teaming does not work with the following:

SR-IOV

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)

TCP Chimney

Microsoft doesn't really explain why TCP Chimney isn't supported (at least not that I have found), but they do indicate that that the reason SR-IOV and RDMA aren't supported is because these technologies send traffic directly to the network adapter and completely bypass the networking stack, which means that SR-IOV and RDMA are unable to detect the NIC team.

Building a NIC Team

Creating a NIC team is an easy process. To do so, open the Server Manager and click on Local Server. Next, locate the NIC Teaming option in the Properties section and then check to see if NIC Teaming is enabled or disabled.




Assuming that NIC Teaming is disabled, click on the Disabled link and the NIC Teaming window will open, as shown in Figure B.



Now, go to the console's Teams section and click on the Task drop down. Select the New Team option. When you do, you will see the NIC Teaming dialog box, shown in Figure C.



As you can see in the figure, the dialog box is pretty simple. You can create a NIC team by entering a name for the team and then picking the network adapters that are included in the team. In the figure above I stuck with the default names for the network adapters that were installed in my server, but if you do rename your network adapters then the custom names that you have assigned will show up in this dialog box.

Before you create the NIC team, it is a good idea to define some additional properties. While this certainly isn't a requirement, doing so gives you more control over the team's functionality. If you look at the figure above, you will notice that there is an Additional Properties drop down near the bottom of the figure. If you click this drop down, you will be presented with some additional options.



Teaming Mode

The first option on the list is the teaming mode. You can choose from three different teaming modes. The default option is Switch Independent. As the name implies, switch independent mode lets you build a NIC team without having to worry about your network switches. The NICs that make up the team can even be connected to multiple network switches.

The next option is called Static Teaming. Static teaming is a switch dependent mode. This mode requires you to configure both the computer and the network switch so as to identify the links that make up the team.

The third teaming mode is also switch dependent. It is called LACP, and is based on link aggregation. The advantage to using this type of NIC teaming is that you can dynamically reconfigure the NIC team by adding or removing NICs as your needs dictate.
Load Balancing Mode

The next option on the list is load balancing mode. Load balancing mode lets you choose between two options – Address Hash or Hyper-V port. The Address Hash option is usually the best choice because it allows traffic to be load balanced across all of the NICs in the team.

The Hyper-V Port option balances traffic on a per virtual machine basis. This type of load balancing assigns each virtual machine's traffic to a specific NIC. The problem with this approach is that virtual machines are unable to take advantage of distributing traffic across multiple NICs.
Standby Adapter

The last option is Standby Adapter. As the name suggests, the Standby Adapter option lets you designate a NIC as a standby spare. That way, if a NIC in the team were to fail then a spare is on hand to take over. It is worth noting however, that you can only designate one NIC as a standby adapter. Windows does not support having multiple spare adapters.

How To Update Drivers in Windows 8

You'll have to update drivers in Windows 8 when a hardware device doesn't install automatically, like after a Windows 8 clean install.

Updating drivers is also a great troubleshooting step when the device is having some kind of problem or is generating an error like a Device Manager error code.

Updating Windows 8 drivers also isn't always a fix-it task. An updated driver may sometimes enable new features for the hardware, something I see on a regular basis with popular video cards and sound cards.

Regardless of why you're updating them, here's an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to update drivers in Windows 8:

Not Using Windows 8? See How To Update Drivers in Windows for driver update instructions for other versions of Windows.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: It usually takes around 15 minutes to update a driver a Windows 8.

Here's How:

Locate, download, and extract the latest drivers for the hardware. You should always check with the hardware manufacturer first when looking for an updated Windows 8 driver. When downloaded direct from the hardware maker, you'll know the driver is both valid and the most recent available.

Tip: I keep a regularly updated list of Windows 8 drivers for popular hardware here: Windows 8 Drivers. Check it out if you're having trouble tracking down drivers for your computer system or a popular piece of hardware.

Note: If no drivers are available from the hardware maker, check Windows Update or even the disc that came with the computer or piece of hardware, if you received one. There are also several other driver download options if those ideas don't work.

Important: Many Windows 8 drivers are integrated with software that automatically installs them, making the below instructions unnecessary. If there's no indication of that on the driver download page, a good bet that you'll need to manually install a driver is if it comes in ZIP format. Drivers obtained via Windows Update are automatically installed.

Open Device Manager from the Windows 8 Control Panel. There are actually several ways to get to Device Manager in Windows 8 but doing so from the Control Panel is pretty simple.

With Device Manager open, click or touch the > icon to open the category that you think contains the device you want to update the drivers for.

Tip: If you don't find the device you're after, just open some other categories until you do. Windows 8 doesn't always categorize hardware the way you and I might when we think about a device and what it does.

Once you've found the device you're updating drivers for, right click or press and hold on the hardware's name or icon and choose Update Driver Software....

The Update Driver Software wizard will begin, which we'll completely step through to finish the Windows 8 driver update for this piece of hardware.

To the How do you want to search for driver software? question, click or touch Browse my computer for driver software.

Next, on the Browse for driver software on your computer window, click or touch Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, located near the bottom of the window.

Touch or click on the Have Disk... button, located on the bottom-right, under the text box.

On the Install From Disk window that appeared, click or touch the Browse... button on the bottom-right corner of the window.

On the Locate File window you see now, work your way to the folder that you created as part of the driver download and extraction in Step 1.

Tip: There may be several nested folders within the folder you extracted. Ideally there will be one labeled Windows 8 but if not, try to make an educated guess, based on what you're updating the drivers for, as to which folder might contain the driver files.

Touch or click any INF file in the file list and then touch or click the Open button.

INF files are the only files that Device Manager accepts for driver setup information and so are the only types of files you'll be shown.

Find several INF files in one folder? Don't worry about this. The Windows 8 Update Driver Software wizard loads information from all the INF files in the folder you're in automatically so it doesn't matter which one you choose.

Find many folders with INF files? Try an INF file from each folder until you find the correct one.

Didn't find an INF file in the folder you chose? Look through other folders, if there are any, until you find one with an INF file.

Didn't find any INF files? If you haven't found an INF file in any folder included in the extracted driver download, it's possible that the download was corrupted. Try downloading and extracting the driver package again.

Touch or click OK back on the Install From Disk window.

Choose the newly added hardware in the text box and then click or touch Next.

Note: If you get a warning after pressing Next, see Step 13 below. If you don't see an error or other message, move on to Step 14.

There are a number of common warnings and other messages that you might get at this point in the Windows 8 driver update process, several of which I've paraphrased and listed here along with advice on what to do:

Windows cannot verify that the driver is compatible: If you're sure this driver is the right one, touch or click Yes to continue installing it. Choose No if you think you might have the driver for the wrong model or something like that, in which case you should look for other INF files or maybe an entirely different driver download. Checking the Show compatible hardware box, if available, located on the window from Step 12, can help prevent this.

Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software: Choose Yes to continue installing this Windows 8 driver only if you received it directly from the manufacturer or from their installation disc. Choose No if you downloaded the driver elsewhere and didn't exhaust your search for a manufacturer-provided one.

This driver hasn't been signed: Similarly to the publisher verification problem above, choose Yes only when you're confident about the driver's source.

Windows requires a digitally signed driver: In 64-bit versions of Windows 8, you won't even see the above two messages because Windows 8 won't let you install a driver that has a digital signature issue. If you see this message, end the driver update process and locate the correct driver from the hardware maker's website.

While on the Installing driver software... screen, which should only last a few to several seconds, Windows 8 will use the instructions included in the INF file from Step 10 to install the updated drivers for your hardware.

Note: Depending on the drivers you happen to be installing, you may be required to enter additional information or make certain choices during this process, but this isn't very common.

Once the Windows 8 driver update process is complete, you should see a Windows has successfully updated your driver software window.

Touch or click on the Close button. You can also now close Device Manager.

Restart your computer, even if you're not prompted to do so.

Windows 8 doesn't always force you to restart after updating a driver but I think it's a good idea. Driver updates involve changes to the Windows Registry and other important parts of Windows so restarting is a good way to make sure that this update hasn't negatively impacted some other part of Windows.

If you do find that the driver update caused some kind of problem, just roll back the driver and try again.

How To Clean Install Windows 8

A Windows 8 clean install involves removing the existing operating system installed on a partition (a previous Windows 8 installation, Windows XP, Linux, Windows 7... it doesn't matter) and then installing Windows 8 from scratch on that same drive. A clean install is also sometimes referred to as a"custom install."

In other words, a clean install of Windows 8 is the erase-whatever-is-there-and-install-a-new-copy-of-Windows-8 process and is usually the best method of installing Windows 8. I always suggest a clean install over upgrading, say from a previous version of Windows like Windows 7.

Tip: It is possible to clean install Windows 8 using the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade that Microsoft is currently offering for $39.99 USD. See How To Clean Install Windows 8 Pro Upgrade for a complete tutorial, after which you can return here to actually get the clean install going.

You might also want to look through my Installing Windows 8 FAQ which should answer most of your other questions.

The walkthrough that follows contains a total of 31 steps, broken into 2 parts, and will guide you through every detail of the Windows 8 clean install process.

The most important thing to consider before performing a clean install of Windows 8 is that every bit of information on the drive you're going to install Windows 8 on will be erased. This means that the entire operating system that's on there now, whatever that may be, will be gone, as will all the programs you've installed, and yes, most importantly, all of your precious data you've saved to that drive.

Backup Your Important Data

So the first thing to do, if you can, is to backup whatever data you'd like to keep like your saved documents, downloaded music and videos, etc. Backing up your actual programs isn't usually possible, so locate all the installation media and downloaded installation files that you used to install the programs so they're available to reinstall once the Windows 8 clean install is done. Be sure also to backup any data files from your programs, assuming they have any, that might not be located with your other saved files.

Locate Your Product Key

Your next concern should your product key. This 25-digit alphanumeric code is required during the Windows 8 clean install process. If you've purchased Windows 8 yourself, the product key should be included with the DVD media you received or in the email confirmation you received when you purchased Windows 8 for download. If Windows 8 came preinstalled on your computer, look for a sticker with the product key somewhere on your desktop, laptop, or tablet device.

Note: If you can't locate your Windows 8 product key but the following is true: a) Windows 8 is installed on the computer right now, b) it's working, and c) it was not preinstalled by your computer maker, then you do have the option of extracting the key from your current installation. See How To Find Your Windows 8 Product Key for help doing that.

Start the Windows 8 Clean Install

Once you are absolutely positive that everything on the primary hard drive partition you're about to install Windows 8 on, probably your C: drive, can be removed (e.g. you've backed everything up that you want to keep) then proceed on to the next step in this tutorial. Please remember that once you delete everything from this drive, which is done in a later step (I'll let you know when), you won't be able to get any of that data back.

A look at storage in Windows Server 8

Frequent TechTarget contributor and Microsoft MVP Brien Posey introduces some of the storage features and changes in Windows Server 8 in this video.

Posey is working with a pre-beta developer preview of Windows Server 8, and he notes there could be changes before the software hits the market, but the beta version gives a good sense of what Microsoft is planning for the future.

Disk management console

Windows Server 8's disk management console will offer an option to create a VHD (virtual hard disk file) or attach a VHD.

According to Posey, "Ever since Windows NT first debuted, the disk management console has been used to control physical disks… In Windows Server 2008, you could attach an iSCSI drive that would show up as a physical disk, but virtual hard disk files have never shown up as physical disks before."

Server manager

Server manager will offer "pools" that allow users to overlay virtual hard disk files of up to 16 TB onto physical storage. It also allows the creation of pools that span multiple physical storage devices in order to combine storage space.

"Windows Server 8 is actually showing these as physical disks, even though they're actually virtual disks that exist within our storage pool," explained Posey during the demonstration.

According to Microsoft, the upcoming version of its Windows Server software will allow developers to use the same tools to build applications for on-premise and cloud use, virtualize work environments, stronger security and other offerings.