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I'm attempting to run a multicast installation with WDS over my network, where WDS is hosted in a virtual machine in a Hyper-V cluster.

I believe we've paved over most of the network-related issues - I can successfully run multicast packets using Microsoft's mcast.exe over from the switch next to the physical Hyper-V host, to the switch that will be connected to the machines that need to be installed.

However, when I try to run these multicast packets using the same utility and method from the WDS VM, they never seem to reach the client computer on the other end.

Is there something that can be configured in Hyper-V so that Multicast packets will work correctly in Server 2008 R2?

gcode
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2 Answers2

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No, not at all. Worked here like a charm some months ago when we rolled out new stuff on a trading floor. We use a Netgear infrastructure (switch wise) and needed zero changes for the multicast to just work.

TomTom
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  • Shoot... At this point I'm so convinced that it's something between the WDS virtual machine and our physical Hyper-V box, I'm just not sure what... – gcode Dec 04 '13 at 20:36
  • As additional note - between my hyper-v and my trading floor you run between 3-4 netgear switches in serie (rack, house, floor 1, floor 2 - being chained to floor 1). All managed. So, not a simple setup. – TomTom Dec 04 '13 at 20:38
  • Yeah, I'll say! – gcode Dec 04 '13 at 20:42
  • Question for you TomTom, was WDS on the same VLAN as your machines that you rolled your images out to? – gcode Dec 04 '13 at 21:37
  • Yes. Although this is a little complicated again. Hyper-V wise it was on the same VLAN, another 2 switches too, then this VLAN switched over to the "non-tagged" side as the trading vlan" is not tagged on the floor. You CAN NOT use WDS with a tagged VLAN - the ethernet pakets must be untagged when they reach the computers being installed. – TomTom Dec 05 '13 at 07:14
  • Ah... It does sound like the issue may be our network still. It sounds like that even though we've setup IGMP on our Enterasys routers/switches, we still need an additional protocol - DVMRP - to route the multicast packets between VLANs, if we choose to go that route. I think we may just put the computers to be imaged on the same VLAN as the WDS server, though. – gcode Dec 05 '13 at 18:25
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    Ah, yes, routing. I dont route the multicast - this is purely switching. Makes thigns easier. – TomTom Dec 05 '13 at 18:36
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As TomTom suggested, the issue is still lying within the network. Our Enterasys routers/switches are setup for IGMP, but do not have any other protocols like DVMRP enabled to support multicast routing between VLANs. I think what we may do is put the machines to be imaged on the same VLAN as the server.

If anyone would like to follow up, here is a question I posted specifically to Enterasys's community for help with multicasting on their network hardware.

gcode
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