Best way to assign multiple IP address to Linux guest in a VMWare environment

[newbie100]

Hi,

I have a Linux guest on ESXi which needs several IP address. One way I can achieve this is to create multiple adapters and assign it to the host.

However, when the same server was a physical server, we use Linux bridge networking along with bonding to create multiple IP address. (eth1&2 -> bond0 ---> br1 , br1:1 etc had ip address assigned) All address were in the same subnet.

My question is, in a virtual environment, whats the most efficient way to create multiple IP address ? Should I simply create multiple network adapters or use the same technique (bridge networking) as it was on the physical server ?

Thanks

[schepp]

Hi,

yes you can do it just like you did with your physical server. I would rethink it when using mulitple VLANs, as this might add extra complexitly, which might be easier to handle on another level.

Also if your applications need high bandwidth, you should create multiple virtual NICs, to spread the load.

Regards

Tim

[dariusd]

Hi newbie100,

Note that it's not strictly necessary to use multiple adapters to have multiple IP addresses.  You can configure aliases directly on physical adapters too (i.e. "eth0", "eth0:1", "eth0:2", etc...).  This is the flipside to Tim Scheppeit's comment above: Use aliases directly on the physical adapter if you don't need the extra bandwidth/redundancy provided by multiple NICs and are looking for the simplest implementation for a VM with multiple addresses on one subnet.

Cheers,

--

Darius