ESXi vmnics Virtual MAC Address

[piedthepiper]

When you run :

esxcfg-info -n | grep -B4 'MAC Address' | grep -A5 vmnic

I see that each vmnic has a physical and virtual mac address associated with it, and I am wondering...why do they have virtual macs?

If you run esxcfg-info -n | grep -B4 'MAC Address' | grep -A5 vmnic You can see

|----Name..................................................vmnic3 |----PCI Bus...............................................2 |----PCI Slot..............................................0 |----PCI function..........................................1 |----MAC Address...........................................aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff |----Virtual MAC Address...................................00:50:56:gg:hh:ii

for example.

The VMware range is 00:50:56 I get that, but why does the physical vmnic need a virtual MAC?

[LucianoPatrão]

Hi,

Did not understand your question. You get this type of information for each vmnic

         |----PCI Segment...........................................0

         |----PCI Bus...............................................5

         |----PCI Slot..............................................0

         |----PCI function..........................................1

         |----MAC Address...........................................8c:dc:d4:b2:7d:59

         |----Virtual MAC Address...................................00:50:56:52:7d:59

When you adding a vmnic to a vSwitch or vDS, the vmnic will be associated with a 00:50:56 mac address.

If you look at the physical connections is the physical mac address, if you look at virtual connections you will see the virtual mac address.