Network Card Detection in Microsoft Cluster Server

ID: Q201616

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0
Microsoft Cluster Server

SUMMARY

Microsoft Cluster Server has the ability to detect and use multiple network cards. The following article discusses the standard requirements for Microsoft Cluster Server to detect those cards.

MORE INFORMATION

Even though Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition successfully detects network cards in a computer, Cluster Server may not see them. The following requirements must be achieved for Cluster Server to use the network cards:

The network card must be bound to TCP/IP.

The network card must be of type Ethernet, token ring, or FDDI.

The network card must be on a different subnet than that of any other network cards in the computer. If two network cards are on the same subnet, Cluster Server will use only one of them.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that any additional cards installed in Microsoft Cluster Server be of type PCI. Furthermore, for hardware validation to be approved, the network cards do have to be of type PCI.

For additional information about the use of multiple network card use in Microsoft Cluster Server, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q175767 Expected Behavior of Multiple Adapters on Same Network

Q175141 Cluster Service Ignores Network Cards

Additional query words: mscs NIC autodetect


Keywords          : 
Version           : winnt:4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: February 26, 1999