NVGRE with Server 2008 R2 guest VM - NetVirtualizationLookupRecord not created

Question

First question -- is using a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 VM guest supported with Windows 2012 R2 hosts using HV-NVGRE and HV-NVGRE Gateways?
I did some testing and at first I couldn't get connectivity with the 2008 R2 guest. I later found that SCVMM 2012 R2 didn't create the NetVirtualizationLookupRecord for the 2008 R2 guest. After I manually created one (matching the VM's mac address,
CA, CustomerID, and PA) I was able to get the guest to communicate with other VM's on the same NVGRE subnet. However, I can't get the 2008 R2 guest to connect to my NVGRE gateway (which works fine with 2012 R2 VM guests).
Is this a known issue and/or are there other manual steps required to make a 2008 R2 VM guest work with NVGRE networks and gateways?
Thanks
Mark
<table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"><b>Mark E. Smith</b><br/> Practice Manager, Unified Communications<br/> Capax Global Consulting<br/> My Blog - <a href="http://blogs.capaxglobal.com/markesmith">http://blogs.capaxglobal.com/markesmith</a><br/>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><img title="MCM" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCM_E14.gif"> <img title="MCITP" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCITP_E14.gif">
<img title="MCTS" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCTS_E14.gif"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Answer 1

Hi Ralph,
First, I can't answer your question about the supportability of WNLB within an NVGRE network. Microsoft Support would have to answer that. That said, I haven't tested WNLB within NVGRE mainly because I personally don't recommend using it EVER. There are so
many known issues/limitations with WNLB that I just tell folks to not even consider it. If you want to read about them, I blogged a few years ago about this (along with another solution) -- it's dated but you can read here:
http://marksmith.netrends.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=111
That said, NVGRE does have some limitations when it comes to what I would call "non-typical" IP protocols (generally anything other than TCP, ICMP, and UDP). For example, I've seen VRRP and CARP not work in a NVGRE network when playing
with some clustered load balancers. I suspect that the issue with WNLB is with its use of mac addresses, under its various network configs (multicast, unicast, etc.)
Due to all of the issues around WNLB, if it were me, I wouldn't even spend the time on it. Look at some of the VM Network load balancers or even try to make the Centos LB work.
Hope that helps.
Mark
<table> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"><b>Mark E. Smith</b><br/> Practice Manager, Unified Communications<br/> Capax Global Consulting<br/> My Blog - <a href="http://blogs.capaxglobal.com/markesmith">http://blogs.capaxglobal.com/markesmith</a><br/>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><img title="MCM" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCM_E14.gif"> <img title="MCITP" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCITP_E14.gif">
<img title="MCTS" src="http://marksmith.netrends.com/Public%20Document%20Library/MCP/MCTS_E14.gif"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>