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Private network addressing options

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Private network addressing options

If an interconnect connects only the cluster nodes and does not support any other network clients, you can assign it a private Internet protocol (IP) network address instead of using one of your enterprise's official IP network addresses.

By agreement with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), several IP networks are always left available for private use within an enterprise. These reserved numbers are:

  • 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 (Class A)

  • 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255 (Class B)

  • 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255 (Class C)

You can use any of these networks or one of their subnets to configure a private interconnect for a cluster. For example, address 10.0.0.1 can be assigned to the first node with a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0. Address 10.0.0.2 can be assigned to a second node, and so on. Do not specify any default gateway, DNS or WINS servers for this network.

Ask your network administrator which of the private networks or subnets you can use within your enterprise before configuring your cluster.

Never route these private network addresses. For more information on private IP network addresses, see Resources for Server Cluster information.