Virtually segregating a VM within the same TCP/IP Network

[eversys]

We have a VMware ESXi 5.0.0 (504890) host which physically has 4 NICs. We run 3 VMs on this host and are looking to config a new one. However, this new VM will replace our old Windows DC,DNS, DHCP etc. server and we would like to config it before going live - we will not be performing a swing migration. We are a little concerned that it may interfer with our live network and hence, would like to somehow virtually segegrate it.

At the moment we have a single vSwitch0 bound to all our VMs and management card:

What's the best way of doing this, so that our new DC (with the same Domain name & within the same TCP/IP Network) can be configured without it interferring with the current network.

Thanks for your feedback.

Oliver

[schepp · Accepted solution]

Hi,

you could create a second vSwitch, without any physical NICs. Create a VM Portgroup on that vSwitch.

You can configure your new VM to use that Portgroup. So it won't have any connection to your network.

The nice thing is, when you want to test things with a client, you can create a second VM and configure it for the same VM portgroup on the second vSwitch.

The two VMs on that Portgroup can then communicate with each other because the traffic is internally handled by the Host.

Tim

[eversys]

Hi Tim,

You mean like this:

I assume that with this setup I won't be able to have the new VM connect to the internet for test purposes or activation, right?

[schepp]

Yeah that's what I meant.

No, you don't have any connection to the outside world, as you don't have any pNIC assigned to the vSwitch. But that's what you wanted.

If you assign a pNIC to the vSwitch, you will have connection to the rest of your network, so you will have to use a different subnet or use VLANs, etc.

Tim

[eversys]

Great - thanks for your help