Distributed Switch - How to?

[2Tall2]

Hi to all. I am revising for the VCP5 exam. My infrastructure was installed by a third party and we use Standard vSwitches. Networking is a greay area for my grey matter!

I have built a 'Test Lab' which has 2 ESXi-5 hosts. Each host has 2 active physical nics (0 and 1). Both hosts currently have Standard vSwitches that mirror production. The only diffrence is no VLANS are configured in the test lab.

vSwitch0 (Physical Adpaters vmnic0)

VMkernel Port

Management

vmk1: 172.0.1.1

vmnic0

+

VMkernel Port

Vmotion

vmk0: 172.0.2.1

vSwitch1  (Physical Adpaters vmnic1)

(Virtual Machine Port Group

Production

I have created a dSwitch using the wizard (5.0.0). Number of uplink ports 4. On adding 'Hosts' screen esx01 and esx02 are listed. I am able to expand esx02 and can only see vmnic2 (inactive nic).

This is my first area of 'greyness'. Why am I only presented with vmnic2?

I created the dSwitch using the disconnect vmnic2. I am then able to select 'Add Host'. I can now see Host esx01 (vmnic0, vmnic1). If I select them then hit next I am warned that the virtual NICs marked might lose connectivity unless migrated to dSwitch. Select a destination port group.

I also have the option to 'Manage Hosts'. I can select esx02. I am then presented with vmnic0 and vmnic1 (vmnic2 is already selected). If I select vmnic0 and vmnic1 I am presented with the same warning as above.

So to recap. I want to migrate away from Standard vSwitches and use a dSwitch.

How can I do this when the physical nics are in use on Standard vSwitches.

I hope I have made sense and would appreciate some expert guidance.

Kind Regards,

Phil.

[admin]

vmnic0 and vmnic1 cannot be used since they are mapped to Standard vSwitch. Check this link for migrating vSwitch to dvSwitch. http://www.dashvue.com/2011/04/migrating-to-vnetwork-distributed-switch/

[2Tall2]

Thanks for the link, I will review it now.

Many Thanks,

Phil.

[admin]

Mark my post as "helpful" or "correct" if I've helped resolve or answered your query!

[dboeva]

Hi,

You can try and migrate the physical NICs to the distributed switch on portions. First connect one physical NIC  on each host to the distributed switch. After you make sure that every host has at least one physical NIC connected to the distributed switch, you can migrate the rest of the NICs to the distributed switch. Does that make sense?

Here's another link that might have useful guidelines as well:

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere-vnetwork-ds-migration-configuration-wp.pdf

Regards,

Dobrinka

[2Tall2]

Thanks for your responses. In production each hosts has 4 physical nics (0,1,2,3). Nics 0,1 are bound to vSwitch0 and are VMkernel Ports (1 for vMotion and 1 for Management).

Standard Switch: vSwitch0 (Physical Adapters vmnic 0 and vmnic1)

VMkernel Port

vMotion

vmk1: 172.10.1.5 VLAN ID 100

If I look at the properties I see ports 'vSwitch', 'vMotion' and  'Management'. 'vMotion' and  'Management' have been assigned IP's. (this is mirrored across Hosts).

VMkernel Port

Management

vmk1: 172.10.10.5 VLAN ID 200

Standard Switch: vSwitch1 (Physical Adapters vmnic 2 and vmnic3)

Virtual Machine Port Group

Production Network VLAN ID: 200

If I look at the properties I see ports 'vSwitch' and 'Production Network'.

I am limited on my Test Lab as each host has only 2 nics.

Kind Regards,

Phil.

PS: Would I need to create additional 'Port Groups' (dvPortGroup is created by default)?

[dboeva]

You can use one distributed port group both for VMkernel networking and for virtual machine networking. In such case you won't need to create additional distributed port groups. But you can create additional port groups and use them only for VMkernel networking if you want to apply different configuration for these port groups.

Regards,

Dobrinka

[2Tall2]

Many thanks for your comments.

Phil