How to Release Inactive IP or MAC Addresses 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 procedure to release inactive IP addresses and MAC addresses. When you release an inactive address, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) returns the address to the static IP address or MAC address pool, and considers it available for reassignment. An IP or MAC address is considered inactive when either of the following conditions is true:

• A host that was assigned a static IP address through the bare-metal deployment process is removed from VMM management. When you remove the host, any IP and MAC addresses that were statically assigned to virtual machines on the host are also marked as inactive.

• A virtual machine goes into a missing state because it was removed outside VMM.

To release inactive IP addresses

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click Logical Networks.

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

4. In the Logical Networks and IP Pools pane, expand the logical network, and then click the desired IP address pool.

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

6. Click the Inactive addresses tab.

7. Select the check box next to each inactive IP address that you want to release, or select the check box in the table header row to select all the addresses, and then click Release.

To release inactive MAC addresses

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 desired MAC address pool.

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

6. Click the Inactive addresses tab.

7. Select the check box next to each inactive MAC address that you want to release, or select the check box in the table header row to select all the addresses, and then click Release.

How to Create IP Address Pools for Logical Networks in VMM
How to Create Custom MAC Address Pools in VMM
Configuring Logical Networking in VMM Overview
Configuring Networking in VMM