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How to Create Custom MAC Address Pools in VMM

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following optional procedure to create custom media access control (MAC) address pools for virtual machines that are running on managed hosts. By using static MAC address pools, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) can automatically generate and assign MAC addresses to new virtual network devices. You can use either the default MAC address pools or configure custom MAC address pools that are scoped to specific host groups.

Important

If you want to use the default MAC address pools, do not complete this procedure.

VMM uses the following default MAC address pool ranges.

Default MAC Address Pool Name Hypervisor Platform Default MAC Address Pool Range
Default MAC address pool Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer 00:1D:D8:B7:1C:00 – 00:1D:D8:F4:1F:FF
Default VMware MAC address pool VMware ESX 00:50:56:00:00:00 – 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF

If you create custom MAC address pools, the following restrictions apply:

  • If you want to divide one of the default pools into smaller custom pools, you must first delete the default MAC address pool or the default VMware MAC address pool. You must delete the default pool to avoid duplicate MAC address assignments.

  • The first three octets of the beginning and ending MAC address must be the same.

  • You must enter a valid hexadecimal values between 00 and FF.

  • The ranges that you specify cannot overlap.

  • The address range must not have the multi-cast bit set to 1. For example, you cannot use addresses that start with X1, X3, X5, X7, X9, XB, XD, or XF, where X is any value.

  • To avoid conflicts with addresses reserved by Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix, do not use the following prefixes.

    Reserved For Prefixes
    Microsoft 00:03:FF

    00:0D:3A

    00:12:5A

    00:15:5D

    00:17:FA

    00:50:F2

    00:1D:D8 (except for the 00:1D:D8:B7:1C:00 – 00:1D:D8:F4:1F:FF range that is reserved for VMM)
    VMware 00:05:69

    00:0C:29

    00:1C:14

    00:50:56 (except for the 00:50:56:00:00:00 – 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF range that is the reserved as the default VMware static range)
    Citrix 00:16:3E

Important

Only complete the “To delete a default MAC address pool (optional)” procedure if you do not want to use the default pools, or you want to divide a default pool into smaller pools.

To delete a default MAC address pool (optional)

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click MAC Address Pools.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Show group, click Fabric Resources.

  4. In the MAC Pools pane, click the default MAC address pool that you want to delete.

    For example, to delete the default pool for Hyper-V, click Default MAC address pool.

  5. On the Home tab, in the Remove group, click Remove.

  6. When prompted whether you want to remove the default MAC address pool, click Yes.

To create custom MAC address pools

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click MAC Address Pools.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Show group, click Fabric Resources.

  4. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create MAC Pool.

    The Create MAC Address Pool Wizard opens.

  5. On the Name and Host Group page, do the following, and then click Next:

    1. In the MAC address pool name and Description boxes, enter a name and optional description for the MAC address pool.

      For example, enter the following information:

      MAC pool name MAC pool - Seattle
      Description MAC pool for Seattle and its child host groups (Hyper-V and XenServer)

    2. Under Host groups, select the check box next to each host group to which the MAC address pool will be available.

      For example, select the check box next to the Seattle host group. By default, all child host groups are selected.

  6. On the MAC Address Range page, specify the beginning and ending MAC address.

    For example, enter the following information, and then click Next.

    Note

    This example assumes that you have deleted the default MAC address pool.

    Starting MAC address 00:1D:D8:B7:1C:00
    Ending MAC address 00:1D:D8:B7:1F:E8

  7. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

    The Jobs dialog box appears. Make sure that the job has a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

    The MAC address pool appears in the MAC Pools pane.

  8. Optionally, repeat this procedure to create custom MAC pools for other host groups.

    Note

    If you are following the scenario examples, and have deleted the default MAC address pool, and then created a custom MAC address pool for Seattle, make sure that you create a custom MAC pool for the New York host group (and its child host groups).

Note

You can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlets, Get-SCMACAddress and Get-SCMACAddressPool, to view the states of the MAC addresses in a MAC address pool. Use the cmdlets with the following syntax, where <MACAddressPool> is the name of your MAC address pool:

$MACpool=Get-SCMACAddressPool –Name <MACAddressPool>

Get-SCMACAddress –MACAddressPool $MACpool | Format-Table –property Address,VirtualNetworkAdapter,State

From time to time, you might need to release MAC addresses that are in the pool but that are marked by VMM as “inactive.” Releasing them makes them available for reassignment. For more information, see How to Release Inactive IP or MAC Addresses in VMM.

See Also

How to Release Inactive IP or MAC Addresses in VMM
Configuring Logical Networking in VMM Overview
How to Create IP Address Pools for Logical Networks in VMM
Configuring Networking in VMM