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plaskey
Contributor
Contributor

Optimal Network Configuration with Slow Physical NIC

Hello,

I have searched the forums and haven't been able to determine the exact answer to this question. How do I create a second virtual network inside my ESXi host so that my VMs can share data at full speed (1000Mb) while still maintaining full connectivity with the internet and my physical LAN? In other words, I want a virtual network running at 1000Mb for all VMs

inside my ESXi host, connected to my slow 100Mb network via a virtual

router.

Here is my current network configuration:

ISP <=> DSL Modem/Router/Switch @ 100Mb <+> ESXi host with 100Mb NIC <=> virtual switch <=> multiple VMs

|_ Physical Laptop

Since the virtual switch is connected to the physical NIC, the network runs at the 100Mb speed.

I have created a new virtual switch in the ESXi host. I have set up Freesco in an ESXi VM as my router with 2 virtual NICs - one on each virtual switch. Here is the Freesco NIC configuration:

100Mb 1000Mb

eth0 eth1

192.168.1.249 192.168.2.254

192.168.1.0/24 192.168.2.0/24

Gateway = 192.168.1.254 (ISP)

With this configuration, I am able to access the web from an ESXi VM located on the 192.168.2.0 subnet but I cannot ping 192.168.2.254 from a machine on 192.168.1.0. I assume that this means there is either a firewall in Freesco blocking traffic or a route needs to be created.

Am I going about this in the right way?

Am I missing something?

How do I troubleshoot the connectivity between subnets?

Thank you,

Peter

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2 Replies
Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

Not sure you need to do anything... Let me show you:

vSwitchB: External<->pNIC<->vSwitch<->FW<->vSwitch<->Internal

vSwitchA: Internal<->pNIC<->vSwitch<-> management vmkernel <=== NEVER Put your management console on the internet

Let's talk about vSwitchB.

VMs are attached to the vSwitch. All traffic between those VMs is contained within the vSwitch running as fast as the vSwitch runs. They do not traverse outside the vSwitch unless you tell them to, I.e. go to the Internet through a firewall appliance or physical firewall.

Check out the following posts for more information on data flow:
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/virtualization-pro/how-traffic-routes-between-vms-on-esx-h...


Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009

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Edward L. Haletky
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VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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J1mbo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Bear in mind the NIC is just an uplink from the vSwitch to your pSwitch.

There is no configuration needed, the VMs will benefit from networking as fast as your host can provide it. However this may not be anywhere near 1 Gbps. For example my lab Opteron 1352 quad-core server maxes out at about 270 Mbps between VMs.

Please award points to any useful answer.

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