Question : XenServer with two NICs on two LANs, trouble with networking

We are testing XenServer 5.5 to see if we can move to it from Virtual Iron.  This is done on a Dell PowerEdge 850 with 2x Boradcom nics. This is a virtualization compatible machine (just barely) which we are using for testing.

Setup is as follows:

XenServer HOST with ETH0 and ETH1
|
| -- ETH0 -192.168.88.9----------->  [switch] --> rest of network
| -- ETH1 -192.168.0.9 ---> iSCSI network.  iSCSI stuff is working fine.

ETH0 is also the management nic. I can connect XenCenter and all that good stuff.  Both nics show up as connected.  Trouble started after I configured iSCSI nic which is working correctly...  

XenServer CLIENT VM with Eth0 only
|-- ETH0 appears to acquire 192.168.88.127 ip from DHCP; we want that.
However, it cannot ping/access/connect to the network.  It's a WIndows 08 VM so it says "unidentified network". It can ping itself on that address.

There is also one more VM that is not configured yet just standing by.It's also Windows 2008.  It had the same issues.  It's main difference is that it is iSCSI storage based.

I dont have VLANs configured, I dont think I need them since the wiring is actually going to different networks (works for us on VirtualIron).   To be honest, I dont even know if we can, shows that VLANS are not really supported in XenConsole Express (the free one which is what we are using).    I did have the VM working initially before configuring the 2nd nic; but I've since stripepd and reconfigured everything and continue to have the issue.  Perhaps it's the fact I added a 2nd VM; the problems started when I added the VM and started working with iSCSI.  Also, we may have made the problem go away before by disconnecting ETH1; but we need it connected for other stuff, so that's not a good solution.

Even though ETH0 has a real IP address, and it works to connect XenCenter, I think that it's not working correctly as a "virtual switch" and hence is the problem.  I am trying to use XenCenter to do all the config, but I did do things like xe pif-list to see whats listed and I cannot see anything unusual.

The point is, networking is not acting as it should; VMs cannot access the domain even though they appear to get DHCP info from it.... any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer : XenServer with two NICs on two LANs, trouble with networking

boukaka,
Because you have presented a solution to your own problem which may be helpful to future searches, this question is now PAQed and your points have been refunded.

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