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mav1c
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ESXi 6.5 - How to make second Port Group available to add to Virtual Machine Network Adapter?

I'm new to VMWare/vSphere/ESXi so struggling getting this initial configuration complete. I have installed ESXi 6.5, and have been able to complete most of the configuration on the host. I installed a new Virtual Machine from an OVA file, and that went well.

Now, we have two networks. A management network, and a data network. These are two completely isolated networks. I was able to configure the Host to connect to the two networks, and I created a new Port Group/vSwitch/VLAN on the Host. I want to add that Network to the VM, but then I edit the Virtual Machine and add the Network Adapter and attempt to assign the second Port Group, it is not available in the drop down list. How to I make that available to assign the the 3rd Network Adapter.

Virtual_Machine_Network_Port_Group_Not_Available.JPG

Host_Port_Groups.JPG

vSwitch1.JPG

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DCEworks
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This solution does not apply to the original posters question nor to anyone of us running a standalone instance of ESXi 6.5

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DCEworks
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Using the esxcli commands shared in this post is the only solution i have found to work with 6.50.  Thank you

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vtk1337
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I think you have assigned a vmkernel for the new portgroup ? delete it and you are fine

Koptan
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you sir are a genius , god bless you

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Rob69
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How in the hell did you get this to work:  I followed everything that has been posted and its not working. 

I manually created the vswitch and portgroup in the esxcli just like people posted.

Then went in to create a new VM, then added a second nic just like the picture shows, however, I STILL DO NOT see the additional VM Network!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do I need to do to get this working because I have an app that needs to do http2https forwarding and when its on the Management network I think the firewall that is on ESXi is blocking and preventing the redirecting of the http traffic to https causing the app not to work.

I need to get this resolved VERY VERY quickly.

Thanks.

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Computer_Guru
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In the HTML5 UI, you are able to (easily) create a configuration that cannot be used, and that's the problem that everyone here not using vSphere is running into.

The common case is that a new (separate) vswitch is created and you want to use it for some sort of communication between the ESXi host and the virtual machine, e.g. a virtual machine providing iSCSI consumed by the ESXi host.

If you create the virtual switch and the port group, then add a vmkernel to that port group and give it an IP address, it all goes fine until you try to then add a virtual machine to this network. The UI does not allow you to associate a port group that has a VMkernel in it with a VM's virtual network adapter. To have communication between a virtual machine and the ESXi host on a separate virtual switch, you need to create one virtual switch with two port groups, one of which has a VMkernel and the other is used by the virtual machines.

techweenie2000
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Computer_Guru is a legend.  That guy gets it.  Thank you, sir.

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