Use this Techdoc to help you to configure primary and backup Shared Ethernet Adapters for load sharing in the Virtual I/O Server. This applies to VIOS 2.2.1 and higher.
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Authors:
Bianca Schmidt ( [email protected] )
Michael Guha Thakurta ( [email protected] ) Reviewer:Rajendra D Patel ( [email protected] ) Last Updated: March 23, 2016 For Changes / Updates - refer to Changes section below: Table of contents: Introduction Requirements Functionality Simple test scenario from scratch - Setup - How do I know that load sharing is working and how do I know which VLANs are bridged by each SEA? - Some outputs in disaster cases Enhanced test scenario (adding additional trunk adapter dynamically to the SEA) - Setup - Some outputs in disaster cases Switching from SEA Load Sharing to SEA failover Switching from SEA failover to SEA Load Sharing FAQs References Changes Introduction: The first implementation to fulfil redundancy requirements for Power System with network virtualization was the introduction of NIB (Network Interface Backup, s. Figure 1) Figure 1: Network Interface Backup (NIB) The client LPAR is connected to two separate VLANs. VLAN tagging cannot be supported in this case is because you can’t have one (virtual) switch with two connections. To get around this problem, a different configuration needs to be used, namely, Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA) Failover (s. Figure 2) Figure 2: SEA Failover The Shared Ethernet Adapter failover configuration provides redundancy only by configuring a backup Shared Ethernet Adapter on a different Virtual I/O Server. This backup Shared Ethernet Adapter is in the standby mode and can be used only if the primary Shared Ethernet Adapter fails. Hence, the bandwidth of the backup Shared Ethernet Adapter is not used. When using very expensive 10 Gb/s ethernet adapter the utilization of both, primary and backup adapter, would be highly appreciated. This can be obtained with use of SEA together with virtual switches (s. Figure 3). Figure 3: Multiple Virtual Ethernet Switches A significant benefit to this design is that both Virtual I/O Servers can be active at the same time. Half of the clients could be configured to use Virtual I/O Server 1 and the other half to use Virtual I/O Server 2 as their primary paths. Each client would failover to its respective secondary path in the case that its primary path was lost. So the customer's investment in hardware is more effectively utilized. Different to SEA with vswitch mode is the SEA with load sharing configuration, where the SEA algorithm itself decides which VLAN is bridged by the primary or the backup SEA (s. Figure 4). Figure 4: SEA with Load Sharing Functionality In the Shared Ethernet Adapter failover with load sharing configuration, the primary and the backup Shared Ethernet Adapters negotiate the set of virtual local area network (VLAN) IDs that they are responsible for bridging. After successful negotiation, each Shared Ethernet Adapter bridges the assigned trunk adapters and the associated VLANs. Thus, both the primary and the backup Shared Ethernet Adapter bridge the workload for their respective VLANs. If a failure occurs, the active Shared Ethernet Adapter bridges all trunk adapters and the associated VLANs. This action helps to avoid disruption in network services (s. Figure 4). Requirements --> Both of primary and backup Virtual I/O Servers are at Version 2.2.1.0, or later. --> Two or more trunk adapters are configured for the primary and backup SEA pair. --> Load Sharing mode must be enabled on both primary and backup SEA pair. --> The virtual local area network (VLAN) definitions of the trunk adapters are identical between the primary and backup SEA pair. --> You need to set the same priority to all trunk adapters under one SEA. The primary and backup priority definitions are set at the SEA level, not at trunk adapters level. --> When using SEA in shared mode and/or LACP etherchannel, SEA attribute, adapter_reset should be changed to 'no' to avoid network connectivity loss. ( This will be default with fileset level 6.1.9.100 - VIO 2.2.4.10 ) --> adapter microcode (physical ethernet adapter) MUST be at latest level to avoid several problems. --> Power System Firmware should be at a later level to avoid timing issues. Simple test scenario from scratch If you already have traditional SEA failover configured refer to section “How to switch from ha_mode to sharing mode”. For maintainability we only have tagged traffic in our scenario. After doing below steps your setup will look like this: Figure 5: SEA Load Sharing Scenario
If the ha_mode is set to 'sharing' on both the primary and the backup SEA but the state of the SEA is 'PRIMARY' or 'BACKUP' as opposed to 'PRIMARY_SH' or 'BACKUP_SH' something went wrong. An error must have occurred which forced SEA to go back to non-sharing state even though Load sharing is enabled. Try to enable Load sharing again by running a chdev command on the backup SEA device. Check the SEA state again. If the SEA has recovered from its error, then it must be operating in Load sharing mode again. If the SEA is still not operating in Load sharing mode, then further detail investigation is required. When the SEA is in load sharing mode, then the Shared Ethernet Adapters on both VIO servers will show the bridge mode as 'Partial'. This is by design because each VIOS is bridging traffic for half of the total VIDs configured. When one of them is down, then the other one bridges traffic for 'all' the VIDs, and in that case, it will not show up as 'Partial' on that VIOS. If one VIOS is put in standby mode, the bridge mode on that VIOS will change to 'None', and to 'All' on the other one. For more details, see Shared Ethernet Adapter failover statistics under Related information. Setup 1.) Create virtual ethernet adapters on p72vio1 HMC --> select p72vio1 --> select Configuration --> select Manage Profiles --> select the correct profile --> Actions --> Edit --> Select Virtual Adapters --> Actions --> Create Virtual Adapter --> Ethernet Adapter Create first trunk adapter on p72vio1: Create second trunk adapter on p72vio1: Create Control Channel on p72vio1: 2.) Create virtual ethernet adapters on p72vio2 HMC --> select p72vio2 --> select Configuration --> select Manage Profiles --> select the correct profile --> Actions --> Edit --> Select Virtual Adapters --> Actions --> Create Virtual Adapter --> Ethernet Adapter Create first Trunk Adapter on p72vio2: Create second Trunk Adapter on p72vio2: Create Control Channel on p72vio2: 3.) Power on both VIO servers p72vio1: # lsdev -Cc adapter |grep Ethernet ent0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Port (lp-hea) ent1 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent2 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent3 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) lhea0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Adapter (l-hea) # entstat -d ent1 |grep Trunk Trunk Adapter: True # entstat -d ent2 |grep Trunk Trunk Adapter: True # entstat -d ent1 |grep VLAN Port VLAN ID: 1 VLAN Tag IDs: 10 11 # entstat -d ent2 |grep VLAN Port VLAN ID: 2 VLAN Tag IDs: 12 13 p72vio2: # lsdev -Cc adapter |grep Ethernet ent0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Port (lp-hea) ent1 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent2 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent3 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) lhea0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Adapter (l-hea) # entstat -d ent1 |grep Trunk Trunk Adapter: True # entstat -d ent2 |grep Trunk Trunk Adapter: True # entstat -d ent1 |grep VLAN Port VLAN ID: 1 VLAN Tag IDs: 10 11 # entstat -d ent2 |grep VLAN Port VLAN ID: 2 VLAN Tag IDs: 12 13 On HMC: hscroot@p7hmc:~> lshwres -r virtualio --rsubtype eth -m p72 --level lpar |grep p72vio1 lpar_name=p72vio1,lpar_id=1,slot_num=2,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=1,ieee_virtual_eth=1, port_vlan_id=1,vswitch=ETHERNET0,' addl_vlan_ids=10,11',mac_addr=761FA3934802,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none lpar_name=p72vio1,lpar_id=1,slot_num=3,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=1,ieee_virtual_eth=1, port_vlan_id=2,vswitch=ETHERNET0,' addl_vlan_ids=12,13',mac_addr=761FA3934803,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none lpar_name=p72vio1,lpar_id=1,slot_num=4,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=0,ieee_virtual_eth=0, port_vlan_id=99,vswitch=ETHERNET0,addl_vlan_ids=,mac_addr=761FA3934804,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none hscroot@p7hmc:~> lshwres -r virtualio --rsubtype eth -m p72 --level lpar |grep p72vio2 lpar_name=p72vio2,lpar_id=2,slot_num=2,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=2,ieee_virtual_eth=1, port_vlan_id=1,vswitch=ETHERNET0,' addl_vlan_ids=10,11',mac_addr=761FA4F6A602,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none lpar_name=p72vio2,lpar_id=2,slot_num=3,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=2,ieee_virtual_eth=1, port_vlan_id=2,vswitch=ETHERNET0,' addl_vlan_ids=12,13',mac_addr=761FA4F6A603,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none lpar_name=p72vio2,lpar_id=2,slot_num=4,state=1,is_required=0, is_trunk=0,ieee_virtual_eth=0, port_vlan_id=99,vswitch=ETHERNET0,addl_vlan_ids=,mac_addr=761FA4F6A604,allowed_os_mac_addrs=all,qos_priority=none 4.) Creating SEA with Load Sharing mode If all the Load sharing criteria are satisfied, then Load sharing can be enabled by setting the ha_mode attribute of SEA device to 'sharing'. This value must be set on primary SEA first before it is set for the backup SEA,because the backup SEA initiates the request for load sharing. If this sequence is not followed (means not activated on the primary first), then a chdev must occur on the backup SEA for Load sharing to work. - When the backup SEA is configured in Load sharing mode it initiates the request for Load sharing by sending a special packet over the control channel to the primary SEA. - The packet contains the list of VLANs the backup SEA proposes to take over for bridging. - When the primary SEA receives the request for sharing it verifies the request and grants the request if it meets the sharing criteria. - After the primary SEA grants the request, it switches over to sharing mode and sends an ACK packet to backup SEA via the control channel. - When the backup SEA receives the ACK packet it switches to sharing mode and starts bridging for VLANs it had proposed to bridge. - From then on, heartbeats are exchanged between the primary and the backup SEA in load sharing mode. - Different to the traditional SEA failover mode, both the primary and the backup SEAs send and receive heartbeats. Note that these heartbeats are in addition to heartbeats sent by the primary SEA in traditional SEA failover mode - When either side (primary or backup) fails to receive load sharing heartbeats for a predetermined period of time, it is assumed that the other SEA has encountered a problem and it falls back to non-sharing mode and starts bridging traffic for all VLANs. - To restart Load sharing, a chdev must occur on the backup SEA for the backup SEA to reinitiate Load sharing request. Simplified SEA: By removing the requirement for a dedicated control channel for SEA pairs, the SEA implements a new method to discover SEA pair partners using the VLAN ID 4095 in its virtual switch. After partners are identified, a new SEA high availability (HA) protocol is used to communicate between them. The new simplified SEA failover configuration is dependent on the following requirements: - VIOS Version 2.2.3 - Hardware Management Console (HMC) 7.7.8 - Firmware Level 780 or higher For more details about the supported machine model types, go to this website: https://www-304.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/power5cm/power7.html More information about “Simplified SEA failover configuration” can be found in Redbook “IBM PowerVM Enhancements” http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg248198.pdf On p72vio1: $ mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent1,ent2 -default ent1 -defaultid 1 -attr ha_mode=sharing ctl_chan=ent3 ent4 Available en4 et4 When using SEA in shared mode and/or LACP etherchannel, SEA attribute, adapter_reset should be changed to 'no' to avoid network connectivity loss. ( This will be default with fileset level 6.1.9.100 - VIO 2.2.4.10 ) $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr adapter_reset=no The change is dynamic and does not require a reboot. On p72vio2: $ mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent1,ent2 -default ent1 -defaultid 1 -attr ha_mode=sharing ctl_chan=ent3 ent4 Available en4 Load Sharing Systemet4$ chdev -dev ent4 -attr adapter_reset=no How do I know that load sharing is working and how do I know which VLANs are bridged by each SEA? --> Check the value of ha_mode attribute of the SEA device. It must be set to 'sharing' on both the primary SEA and the backup SEA --> Run entstat -all (as padmin) or entstat -d (as root) for SEA device. If the SEA is operating in Load sharing state, then its state must be either PRIMARY_SH or BACKUP_SH --> Run the entstat on the SEA device and look for values for VID Bridged. These are the VLANs bridged by the SEA while SEA is operating in Load sharing mode. On p72vio1: # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 … State: PRIMARY_SH Bridge Mode: Partial VID shared: 1 10 11 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 1 … On p72vio2: # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 … State: BACKUP_SH Bridge Mode: Partial VID shared: 2 12 13 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 2 … Some outputs in disaster cases
Enhanced test scenario (adding additional trunk adapter dynamically to the SEA) Figure 6: Enhanced SEA Load Sharing Scenario
Setup While adding VLANs dynamically is fully supported by IBM it should be considered that any dynamic configuration change can lead to temporary delay of network traffic especially if the environment is under full load. To further avoid disruption in the network, when adding VLANs, change ha_mode=auto on both sides, add VLAN on the primary first, second on the backup, then switch back to sharing mode. 1.) create additional trunk adapter on the vio server with dlpar HMC --> select p72vio1 --> select Dynamic Logical Partitioning Select Virtual Adapter --> Actions --> Create Virtual Adapter --> Ethernet Adapter Create additional trunk adapter on p72vio1: Create additional trunk adapter on p72vio1: 1.) create additional trunk adapter on the vio server with dlpar HMC --> select p72vio2 --> select Dynamic Logical Partitioning Select Virtual Adapter --> Actions --> Create Virtual Adapter --> Ethernet Adapter Create additional trunk adapter on p72vio2: Create additional trunk adapter on p72vio2: 3.) add adapter to the profile (starting with HMC 7.7.3 the existing profile can be overwritten, previously you needed to specify new profile name ) On both vio server (p72vio1 and p72vio2): HMC --> select Configuration --> seclect Save Current Configuration Overwrite Existing Profile 4.) run cfgmgr (or cfgdev as padmin) on both vio server (p72vio1 and p72vio2): # cfgmgr # lsdev -Cc adapter |grep Ethernet ent0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Port (lp-hea) ent1 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent2 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent3 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent4 Available Shared Ethernet Adapter ent5 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) ent6 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan) lhea0 Available Logical Host Ethernet Adapter (l-hea) new virual adapter ent5 and ent6 5.) Add the new trunk adapter to the SEA On p72vio1: $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr virt_adapters=ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 ent4 changed On p72vio2: $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr virt_adapters=ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 ent4 changed How do I know that load sharing is working and how do I know which VLANs are bridged by each SEA? On p72vio1: # lsattr –El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 .. State: PRIMARY_SH Bridge Mode: Partial VID shared: 3 4 33 44 333 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 1 .. On p72vio2: # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 .. State: BACKUP_SH ![]() VID shared: 1 2 10 11 12 13 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 2 .. Some outputs in disaster cases
Switching from SEA Load Sharing to SEA failover ![]() On p72vio1 (Primary): $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=auto ent4 changed # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode auto High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 State: PRIMARY Bridge Mode: All High Availability Mode: Auto Priority: 1 On p72vio2 (Backup): $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=auto ent4 changed # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode auto High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 Limbo Packets: 0 State: BACKUP Bridge Mode: None High Availability Mode: Auto Priority: 2 Switching from SEA failover to SEA Load Sharing On p72vio1 (Primary): $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=sharing ent4 changed # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 State: PRIMARY Bridge Mode: All High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 1 On p72vio2 (Backup): $ chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=sharing ent4 changed # lsattr -El ent4 .. ctl_chan ent3 Control Channel adapter for SEA failover True .. ha_mode sharing High Availability Mode True .. pvid 1 PVID to use for the SEA device True pvid_adapter ent1 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged packets .. real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA True .. virt_adapters ent1,ent2,ent5,ent6 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA (comma separated) # entstat –d ent4 State: BACKUP_SH Bridge Mode: Partial VID shared: 1 2 10 11 12 13 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 2 On p72vio1 (Primary): State: PRIMARY_SH Bridge Mode: Partial VID shared: 3 4 33 44 333 High Availability Mode: Sharing Priority: 1 FAQs 1) What is the algorithm that the VIOS pair uses to determine which VIOS should 'own' the VID's? VIOS divides the number of trunk adapters by 2. One VIOS bridges all VLANs of one half, and the other VIOS does bridging for VLANs of the other half. 2) As time goes on will the list of VID's change for each VIOS? (related to my algorithm question). Not if the SEA configuration remains the same. 3) In load sharing mode is there any potential for broadcast storm if either of the VIOS are rebooted? (one at a time). No. 4) Before rebooting each VIOS (one at a time) do I need to switch it back to 'auto' mode? No. 5) If I want to rmdev the SEA can I do this when it's in 'sharing' mode on either VIOS? Based on what I've read I'd have to do this on the Primary SEA VIOS (with the lowest priority) first. In 'auto' mode I can run rmdev against the SEA on either VIOS. Yes. Changes Section: July 31, 2012 a) Correction to figures 4,5 and 6 b) Added, 'For maintainability we only have tagged traffic in our szenario' in the section Simple test scenario from scratch. c) Figure 2 on the first VIOS the PVID was empty in the trunk adapter and is now added. d) Figure 3 (multiple virtual ethernet switches) had incorrect PVID in the SEA on the second VIOS . (PVID 2 instead of PVID 1) July 12, 2013 a) Removed dead link March 3, 2016 a) added information about simplified SEA b) added information about partial bridge mode c) changed some wordings References http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7hb1/iphb1_vios_scenario_sea_load_sharing.htm http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247590.html Redbook - IBM PowerVM Virtualization Managing and Monitoring Related information
Configuring Shared Ethernet Adapter failover with load
IBM PowerVM Virtualization Managing and Monitoring Shared Ethernet Adapter failover statistics Configuring SEA failover without using a dedicated cont Original publication date
2012/2/20
Network discovery allows Windows 10 to find other computers and devices on a network. This feature is automatically turned on when you’re connected to private networks like the one in your home or workplace. Network discovery is turned off when you’re connected to public networks that shouldn’t be trusted and you don’t allow your PC to be discoverable on those networks.
Enable network discovery
If your Windows 10 computer or device can’t view other computers on the network, two things are probably at fault: You either assigned the incorrect network profile (public instead or private) or network discovery is turned off for some reason.
Here’s how to activate network discovery in Windows 10 for your active network profile:
You don’t ever want to enable network discovery when you’re connected to public networks. So, if you’re connected to a public network like those in airports and cafes, be sure to set the profile to Public.
Enable file and printer sharing
When you’re connected to private networks, Windows 10 automatically turns on the File and Printer Sharing setting. In this way, you can easily share folders, files, and printers with other computers and devices in your network. However, if your network administrator adjusts this setting, you may need to manually turn it on or off, depending on your needs.
Here’s how to activate the File and Printer Sharing setting in Windows 10 for your active network connection:
If you’re connected to a public network like those in airports and cafes, be sure to assign Public as the profile for that connection. Also, don’t enable the File and Printer Sharing setting when you’re connected to public networks.
Enable Public folder sharing
The Public folder is located on your hard drive in C:UsersPublic. All user accounts registered in Windows have access to it. That’s why it’s named Public. Any file and folder found in C:UsersPublic is completely accessible to all users on the computer. Depending on your network sharing settings, this folder and its contents can also be accessed by all other computers and devices that are part of the same network.
To turn on Public Folder Sharing, follow these steps:
Enable Password Protected Sharing
When Password Protected Sharing is turned on, only people who have a user account and password on your computer or network domain (in the case of business networks) can access shared files and printers attached to your Windows 10 computer or device, as well as your public folders. It’s a good idea to avoid disabling Password Protected Sharing, but you may need to do that in some situations, such as when you want to give other people access.
To turn on Password Protected Sharing, follow these steps:
On Windows 10, you can share files on your computer with other users over the network, and despite this might seem complicated, it’s actually a simple task, when using the tools the operating system provides.
Depending on your network environment and what you’re trying to accomplish there are at least four ways to set up file sharing on Windows 10. You can use Public folder, which is a special setup that allows to share files over the local network without configuring permissions.
Or you can share content using the File Sharing feature on Windows 10. Then there is Homegroup, which unlike Public folder, this option automatically shares your Windows 10 libraries folders (Pictures, Videos, Music, Documents), Printers, and other devices connected to your PC.
And if you’re looking to share files with other people across the internet, you can use file sharing on OneDrive.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to share files over the network using File Sharing, Homegroup, and OneDrive on Windows 10.
How to share files using File Explorer
Using the built-in File Sharing feature on Windows 10 is the best method you can use to share files in a local network, as it’s more flexible. You can use more restrictive permissions, and you can share files with virtually any device, including Mac, Android, and Linux computers.
There are two ways to share files using File Explorer: you can use the basic settings, which allows you to quickly share files on the network with minimal configuration, or you can use the advanced settings to set custom permissions and set other advanced options.
Sharing files using basic settings
To share files on your local network using the express settings, do the following:
Sharing files using advanced settings
To share files on your local network using the advanced sharing settings, do the following:
Sharing files with a specific user
If you only want to share files with only one specific user, you can follow the same steps, but on step 8, do the following:
Once you completed the steps, the shared content should be available when browsing the remote computer on File Explorer > Network.
How to share files over the network without needing a password
On Windows 10, any file you share is by default secured with a username and password. This means only people who have an account and password on the computer doing the sharing can access shared files.
If you’re setting up file sharing on a local network for your family members, or people you know, it’s possible to disable the requirement to sign-in with Windows credentials to allow users to access files on the sharing computer without the need of a password.
To disable password protections for file sharing on Windows 10, do the following:
How to share files using Homegroup
Microsoft created Homegroup to be an easy to use method for non-technical users to securely share files between computers running Windows 7 and later versions of the operating system connected to the same local network.
Typically, home users are the ones who will use Homegroup, as it offers a very easy and convenient way to share files, but this method has limited options. For example, you can share your libraries (Pictures, Videos, Music, Documents), folders, Printers and other devices connected to your PC. However, you cannot share files with versions of Windows older than Windows 7, or other devices running a different operating system, such as Android and iOS.
Important:Starting with version 1803, Windows 10 no longer include support for Homegroup, but you can still use the feature in older versions of the operating system.
Creating a Home group
To create a Homegroup on your local network, do the following:
Once you completed the task, the Homegroup settings page will be updated displaying the libraries you’re currently sharing and additional options, including the ability to leave the Homegroup and change the resources you’re sharing.
Joining a Homegroup
To join another computer to the Homegroup to access the files you’re sharing on your device, do the following:
Quick Tip: If you don’t see the Join now button, click the Start the Homegroup troubleshooter, which will force a rescan of the network and make the option available.
Sharing files on a Homegroup
To start sharing files using Homegroup, do the following:
Once you have a Homegroup created your PC is already sharing those files and folders within the libraries you shared during the setup process. However, if you want to share files on a different location with users connected to the Homegroup, then do the following:
In the case, you want stop sharing a folder you previously shared, right-click the folder, select Share with, and this time click the Stop sharing option.
Once you completed the steps the shared content should be available when browsing the remote computer on File Explorer > Homegroup.
How to share files using OneDrive
You can also share files with other people across your network or around the world using OneDrive.
To share files using OneDrive on Windows 10, use these steps:
Any user who receives your message will be able to click the link and view the content of the folder on any web browser.
If you want users to be able to view and edit the content inside of a OneDrive folder, you’ll need to share the folder using OneDrive on the web.
Once you completed the steps, anyone with the link will be able to view and edit the file or the content inside of the folder.
If you only want to share files with specific users privately, you want to select the option to share via email.
Wrapping things up
As you can see, Windows 10 provides a number of methods to securely share files over a network. If you’re not a tech-savvy user, the best way to share files would be using Homegroup, Public folder, or OneDrive. While file sharing using advanced settings is an option suited for more technical users with networking background.
Remember that files you share will only be available to users as long as your computer is turned on, with the exception of the OneDrive sharing method. However, using OneDrive, users must have an internet connection to access the shared content.
Update January 10, 2019: This guide was originally published in January 2017, and it’s been revised in January 2019.
The Network and Sharing Center in Windows 7, 8 and 10 is one of the more important and useful Control Panel apps that lets you see information about your network and lets you make changes that can affect how you access resources on the network.
Unfortunately, most people never mess around with network settings because they don’t understand what everything means and are afraid to mess something up. However, once you understand the settings, you can fix problems on your own, increase your privacy, and quickly setup file and printer sharing between multiple computers.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the different aspects of the Network and Sharing Center and show you certain features you can use on a regular basis to make yourself more productive.
Opening Network & Sharing Center
The first step is to open the Network and Sharing Center. The quickest way to get to it is by clicking on Start and typing in network and. This will instantly bring up the app in the list.
In all versions of Windows, the app is located in the Control Panel. In Windows 7, just click on Start and the Control Panel is listed on the right side of the Start Menu. In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, just right-click on the Start Menu and choose Control Panel from the list.
In the Control Panel, you can click on the Network and Internet category and then click on Network and Sharing Center. If you are in icon view, just click directly on Network and Sharing Center.
Private or Public Network
The first thing you’ll see when you open the Network and Sharing Center is your current connection to the network and to the Internet. Windows 7 has a little bit more information and also a couple of more options.
In Windows 8 and Windows 10, they cleaned up the interface by getting rid of a couple of items and combining other items.
At the top, you’ll see the active network or networks, the network type, the type of access, HomeGroup info and the connection info. The first thing to understand about this info is the network type, which is listed directly below the name of the network.
In the above examples, one has Home network listed and the other has Private network listed. This is very important because when you are connected to a private or home network, there are a lot of sharing settings that are set by default to be trusting. This means others can find your computer on the network, possibly access shared folders, stream media from your computer, etc.
Windows will normally try to figure this out for you automatically so that when you connect to a public WiFi network, it will use the Public profile and not the private one. Sometimes, Windows will ask you if you want to enable sharing or find devices once you connect to a network and if you say yes, it will make the network private. If you choose no, it will make the network public.
You can also manually change the network type to Public or Private depending on what kind of privacy you want. This can be useful, for example, if you are visiting someone and you want to make sure no one can access any data on your computer while you are connected to their network. Change the network type to Public and no one will be able to discover your computer on the network.
You can read my post on how to switch between public and private for the currently connected network. So what exactly does switching do? Well, you can see all of the different sharing settings when you click on the Change advanced sharing settings link, which I explain in detail in the next section below.
To the right of the network name and network type, you’ll see HomeGroup and Connections. Next to HomeGroup, you’ll see a link that says Available to join or Ready to create depending on whether a HomeGroup already exists on the network or not. A HomeGroup allows you to easily share files, printers and more between computers. I talk more about it in the Advanced Sharing Settings section below.
Next to Connections, you can click on the name of the WiFi or Ethernet network to bring up the status info dialog for the current connection. Here you can see how long you have been connected, the signal quality for WiFi networks, the network speed, etc. You can also disable the connection and diagnose the connection if there is a problem.
For WiFi networks, this screen is useful because you can click on Wireless Properties and then click on the Security tab and view the WiFi password. This is really useful if you have forgotten the WiFi password, but still have a computer that is connected to the network.
Lastly, if you click on Details, you can get more info about the current network like the Default Gateway (router IP address), MAC address, and computer IP address.
Advanced Sharing Settings
The advanced sharing settings dialog is main place for managing how your computer communicates with the rest of the network. In Windows 7, you have two profiles: Home or Work and Public. Only one profile can be active at a time. All the settings are the same and repeated under each profile.
In Windows 8 and 10, you have three profiles: Private, Guest or Public and All Networks. Basically, it’s the same settings as in Windows 7, but just split up more logically. Let’s go through the various settings:
Network Discovery – This setting is turned on for private networks by default and it means that your computer can be seen by other computers and vice versa. What this means in practice is that when you open Windows Explorer, you might see the name of another computer connected to your network under Network Locations.
File and Printer Sharing – This setting will allow others to access shared folders and printers on your computer. I always turn this to Off even on private networks unless I need to use it in a specific situation. There are so many times when guests come over to my house, connect to the network and then could possibly browse my system. Only shared folders can be viewed, but you’d be surprised how folders can become shared without your knowledge.
HomeGroup connections – If you really do need to share files and folders, you should just setup a HomeGroup, which is more secure and a lot easier to configure. If you do run into trouble, just read my HomeGroup troubleshooting guide.
Now expand out All Networks if you are using Windows 8 or Windows 10. There are a couple of more settings here.
Public Folder Sharing – I recommend turning this off unless you specifically need to share data with another computer. The reason is that it’s very easy to accidentally save files into these publicly shared folders without realizing it, which will then be accessible by anyone on the network. A very useful feature when you need it, but a big privacy risk otherwise.
Media Streaming – This is another option you should keep disabled until you need to use it. This basically turns your computer into a DLNA server so that you can stream music, movies and pictures to other devices on the network like an Xbox One, etc. When enabled, it opens up quite a few ports in your firewall also.
File Sharing Connections – This should always be set to Use 128-bit encryption unless you need to share files with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 computers.
Password Protected Sharing – I highly recommend turning on password protected sharing because it will force users to enter a username and password for an account on your computer in order to access any data.
Setup New Network & Troubleshoot Problems
The next part I want to talk about is the section under Change your networking settings. In Windows 10, you can either setup a new connection or troubleshoot problems.
For setting up a new connection, you only have four options in Windows 8/10: Connect to the Internet, Setup a new network, manually connect to a WiFi network or connection to a VPN. Note that creating an ad-hoc network is no longer possible in Windows 10.
If you click on Troubleshoot problems, you’ll get a list of troubleshooting links for the Internet, network adapter, HomeGroup, Shared Folder, Printers, etc.
These are not just troubleshooting guides, they are actual programs that run and fix issues with various networking related services. I have found the Internet Connections and Network Adapter troubleshooting fixes to be the most useful.
Change Adapter Settings
Lastly, let’s talk about the Change adapter settings link on the left-hand side. You probably won’t use this too often, but it does come in handy when troubleshooting network problems.
Here you will see a list of all the network adapters on your computer. If you have an Ethernet port and WiFi card, you’ll see both items listed. You might also see other network adapters, but they are usually always virtual, meaning they are created by a software application like a VPN client or virtual machine program.
If you’re having connection problems, you can simply right-click on the adapter and choose Diagnose. This will usually fix any problem with a misconfigured network adapter. If you right-click and choose Properties, you can configure your computer to use a static IP address rather than obtaining one from a DHCP server.
As mentioned, this is not something you’ll need to do often, but it’s good to know for troubleshooting purposes. For the technically savvy, there are a lot of other advanced settings you can modify here, but this guide is meant for newbies.
Hopefully, this article will help you navigate the Network & Sharing Center settings without feeling overwhelmed. It’s the easiest way to fix network problems and to make your computer more secure by disabling a lot of the automatic sharing enabled by default. If you have any questions, post a comment. Enjoy!
When you first create a file share on your network, all users are granted read-only access to the share. If you want to allow users to modify files in the share or allow them to create new files, you need to add permissions. Here’s how to do this via the Share and Storage Management console:
Here are a few other thoughts to ponder concerning adding permissions:
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