"The server is offline" and I'm losing patience with it...

[JTP]

So, I have a storage server that's being a bit of a pain right now. I just finished properly setting it up. A couple of days ago it was working fine - backups were more or less working (I was sorting out one other issue), and shared folders were accessible to every client that connected to it.

 

Yesterday, I tried to copy some new stuff to it from my main workstation and discovered that it's offline. I go down and check on it and find some kind of strange issue with connectivity.

 

Relevant specs:

Intel Gigabit VT Quad Port Server Adapter

Windows Home Server 2011, fully updated

HP Procurve 1800-24G managed switch

Linksys E2500 wifi router

 

The 4 ports of the quad card are teamed to the switch, which links everything else in the house. The Linksys router is also connected to the switch, and it connects to the modem to act as the internet gateway and DHCP server for the network.

 

Symptoms:

The clients do not see the server at all, either from the "Launchpad" or by any other method (web browser, RDC, attempts to access shared folders). The Launchpad simply states that "The server is offline". Helpful.

The server can see some things on the network - the printer, for example - but NOT the router or switch (sometimes a client shows up but there's no connectivity to anything)

The server has no Internet access through the switch

The DHCP client list in the router DOES list the server, so it IS connected (I know, I know, I need to give it a static IP... that was on the to-do list)

Internet access was achieved by connecting the onboard ethernet from the server to the switch, didn't test any other functionality this way though

 

Things I tried:

Disconnect and re-connect client machines (via uninstall/reinstall of Connector)

Power cycle router

Power cycle switch

Factory reset switch

Complete uninstall/reinstall of drivers and software for the quad-port card, recreating the team from scratch

(at this point, the onboard LAN connection also disappeared from the available network connections... ?!?)

 

... help?

 

Thanks for looking.

[Whaler_99]

Have you tried pulling out the 4 port card and just using the onboard and testing that? Also, I assume all your other clients working fine, internet access, etc, so most like not the switch or router. 

[AMICLG]

Try disabling link aggregation (trunking) on both the switch and server then connect through a single port on the Intel NIC if it's still doesn't work try the onboard NIC.

[JTP]

Have you tried pulling out the 4 port card and just using the onboard and testing that? Also, I assume all your other clients working fine, internet access, etc, so most like not the switch or router. 

Yes, clients and other devices are all fine. I didn't physically remove the card (everything's all racked up and stuff...) but as I said, I was able to get the connection working to the internet at least via the onboard. I then managed to nuke the drivers for the onboard in my attempt to remove and reinstall the drivers for the Intel card. 

 

Try disabling link aggregation (trunking) on both the switch and server then connect through a single port on the Intel NIC if it's still doesn't work try the onboard NIC.

 

Thanks! That did it. I guess I would have figured this out if I hadn't been so quick to rebuild the trunk after I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers. But now the question remains, why did the trunk cause it to fail when it was working fine and I didn't change anything about it? 

 

... As a separate question. Can someone recommend what the best trunking/teaming settings would be to use for a setup like this, considering the card and switch I'm working with? My goal is good multi-client throughput. (I'm not new to basic networking... but I've never dealt with teaming before.)

 

Thanks for your help guys!