Number of physical NICs in ESXi ?

[Hanadarko]

I have noticed if I add and then remove and add again (PCI Network cards) that ESXi continues to add them in increasing numeric order.

Now that I have ESXi 4.0 all setup, I have some weird network interface numbers ( as high as 9 or 10 for example).

How can I default/remove these so that when ESXi reboots, it comes up with nics starting at 0 ?

I understand I likely will need to reconfigure my vlans and stuff and I am fine with that.

Help?

-JD

[JCOEN]

I'm running into the same problem.  Any way to fix without re-installing ESXi?

[bulletprooffool]

windows does the same things (in the case of windows, the Nics are stored in the registry underHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces)

this is normal behaviour for any OS, as it prepares the OS for the return of a NIC etc.

have a look at the following for Linux (not yet tested on  ESX) http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-command-to-remove-virtual-interfaces-or-network-aliases/

[opbz]

intersting...

wonder if you can modify the information of esxcfg-info remove all extra nics then reboot.

obviously make backup of it first.

[JCOEN]

Thanks for the reply Alan.  Unfortunatly ESXi is some form of busybox and not full blown linux and therefore those directories don't exist.  The idea may be the same within busybox, and if it is, it is just a matter of finding the right location.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Busybox is a small app that provides many Unix utilities within the ESXi console.  If you run ls -l /bin/ you'll see that many commands like ls, rm are merely symbolic links to busybox.  The kernel of ESXi itself has no dependencies on busybox, but rather busybox runs as an app in the ESXi console.

Here's a KB article on vmnic ordering - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1002315 You could edit the vmkname section of /etc/vmware/esx.conf to update the mappings (take a system backup first).

device/000:005:00.0/vmkname = "vmhba2"

/device/000:006:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic0"

/device/000:007:00.0/vmkname = "vmnic1"

/device/000:008:03.0/vmkname = "vmnic2"

[JCOEN]

Dave,

Thanks for the insight on busybox.

Editing the esx.conf file worked for me.  One thing to keep in mind for anyone else doing this is to go back to your vSS and/or vDS and reconfigure the physical adapters.  When you change the numberings of the NICs they will no longer be attaced to the switch.

Thanks again Dave.

-Josh