Management network redudancy, 2 nics, active/active, or active/standby?

[greenpride32]

I have two NICs available for my management network.   Most "design" documents I have seen set one to NIC to active, and the other to standby.  What is the benefit of that approach versus setting them both to active?  Assume I don't have any NIC limitations and these 2 ports are dedicated to management only.

[rickardnobel · Accepted solution]

greenpride32 wrote:

I have two NICs available for my management network.   Most "design" documents I have seen set one to NIC to active, and the other to standby.  What is the benefit of that approach versus setting them both to active?  Assume I don't have any NIC limitations and these 2 ports are dedicated to management only.

If you have no other portgroups on that vSwitch then you could leave them both as active without any issues.

Sometimes the vMotion VMK interface is placed on the same vSwitch as Management VMK and if so it is good to separate them to different vmnics with active/standby.