NIC Configuration in ESXi 4.1

[KDzikowicz]

Ive got an ESXi 4.1 system with 2 Vswitches configured.

One is my local LAN and the other is an External Network.

I have a VM that routes between the two.

Currently there are 3 gigabit Network Cards in the machine.

I would like to have one port connected to the "External Network"

I would like to connect the other 2 to the LAN network, BUT i do not want failover or load balancing.

I want to run 2 other pieces of hardware off of them.

I do not have a Physical switch local to the machine, or i would use it.

Is there any way to configure multiple NIC's with a Virtual switch to act just like a Physical Switch, or are the NIC's only used as uplinks?

Thanks.

[idle-jam]

you can configure the 3rd unused virtual switch and act like physical switch ..

[AndreTheGiant]

Is there any way to configure multiple NIC's with a Virtual switch to act just like a Physical Switch, or are the NIC's only used as uplinks?

Welcome to the community.

I'm not sure to understand your question.

Each pNIC is just a uplink that connects a physical switch port to a vSwitch.

See also: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/virtual_networking_concepts.pdf

Andre

[KDzikowicz]

This is what i would like to do

Vswitch 1 -> NIC 1 -> External Network

Vswitch 2 -> NIC 2 -> LAN -> Server X Clients

Vswitch 2 -> NIC 3 -> Server X attached to LAN through Vswitch2

I do not want to install another switch at the ESXi server if i can avoid it.

Ive tried everything I can think of and cannot get the X Clients to the X Server.

It always tries to connect NIC 2 and NIC 3 as a team.

Does this make more sense?

[AndreTheGiant]

From your config seems that NIC2 and NIC3 are already a team.

Your server has a cross cable or is connected to the same physical switch of the clients? If not, simple connect NIC3 and server to the same switch.

Andre

[bulletprooffool]

You could use something like a Vyatta apliance (VM - from the VM marketplace) and configure it to behave as a switch.

You simply need to provide the appliance with 2 NICs and tell the appliance how to handle the trafiic.

[KDzikowicz]

"From your config seems that NIC2 and NIC3 are already a team.

Your  server has a cross cable or is connected to the same physical switch of  the clients? If not, simple connect NIC3 and server to the same switch."

Ive only got one physical cable between the switch and the server location.

The 2nd server is new.  I was trying to avoid having to pull new cables in.

It seems that i cannot have multiple physical NICs attached to a Vswitch without having them be a team/failover.

Apparently Bulletproof has the only viable solution so far.  I will have to see about using a virtual appliance to connect Vswitches.

This would be a really useful feature for how my system is set up.

If anyone else has any other suggestions, it would be appreciated.

Thank You.

[Walfordr]

KDzikowicz wrote:

......

It seems that i cannot have multiple physical NICs attached to a Vswitch without having them be a team/failover.

Apparently Bulletproof has the only viable solution so far.  I will have to see about using a virtual appliance to connect Vswitches.

This would be a really useful feature for how my system is set up.

If anyone else has any other suggestions, it would be appreciated.

Thank You.

1st things first. Each NIC is just an uplink.

What is NIC2 and NIC3 plugged into?

Are the VMs in ServerX and the LAN on the same network? VMs on the same vSwitch can talk to one another, even without NICs on the vSwitch, if they are on the same network.  *This is actually recommended by VMware for troubleshooting machines.

-----------------------------

Technically there are 3 teaming modes.  Active/Active, Active/Standby and Active/Unused.  You may be able to accomplish what you want with Active/Unused.

You can override the NIC teaming policy at the portgroup level.

So you would create a portgroup for LAN and assign only NIC2 (move NIC3 down to unassigned).  Then you would create another portgroup for LAN2 (Serverx) and assign only NIC3 (move NIC2 down to unassigned) to that portgroup.  Now put serverx in LAN2 and ServerX clients in LAN portgroup.

~ # esxcfg-vswitch -l
Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
vSwitch0         128         3           128               1500    vmnic0

  PortGroup Name        VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  External Network      0        0           vmnic0
  Management Network    0        1           vmnic0

Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
vSwitch1         128         3           128               1500    vmnic1,vmnic2

  PortGroup Name        VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  LAN                   0        0           vmnic1
  LAN2                  0        0           vmnic2

~ #

If ServerX is on another network and you don't have a router then you could give it an interface in the networks that you need it in.  This would not be the optimal configuraton for security.

Robert.

[bulletprooffool]

If you decide to go the Vyatta route - this should get you started:

http://www.get-virtual.info/2011/02/18/using-vyatta-as-firewall-in-esxesxi-for-private-network-simul...

[Etched]

I'm trying to accomplish exactly the same thing as the original poster. I want to have two (or more) physical adapters connected to a single virtual switch. I want them to be active simultaneously. I do not want them to operate in a teaming mode. I don't want them in any sort of fail over configuration. I would prefer not to waste unnecessary CPU cycles and memory running a specialized VM to accomplish this.

For those who do not follow; basically we want to have a virtual switch behave as an 'upgradeable' physical switch. If I attach three physical adapters to it, I want those physical ports to behave as ports on a physical switch (be able to attached individually separate and distinct physical devices to each physical port and have them communicate with each other). If I have three physical adapters on one virtual switch and I add a fourth physical adapter, I want it to behave as if I have taken a physical switch with 3 ports and added a new (fourth) port to it. Right now, you can not have two separate physical devices connected directly to a single virtual switch without using a real physical switch.

The virtual switch already functions at a switch with hundreds or thousands of ports. It seems it would be relatively trivial task to make more than one of them physical. Please don't interpret this as bashing; it's genuine begging.