Vmotion Nic Teaming esxi 5.1

[kurtd]

We do not have shared storage so we do vmotion and storage motion simultaneous with live virtual machines to other hosts.  I have 3 1gbit nics dedicated to vmotion and I wonder what's the best way to configure them in order to get best performance when moving a virtual machine with 1.5 TB disk.

Right now I have one vSwitch with one port group containing 3 active nics.  Should I instead have two or three port groups as shown in this video ?http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=200746...

Thanks

[weinstein5]

As I recall the files are not moved through the vMotion network - only what the VM has stored ina hosts memory is moved across the vMotion network - If you are not relying on SAN technologies then you will have to beef up the through put through the vmkernel ports -

[AustinArnold]

Correct - the files are moved through the VMKernel network for local storage

[kurtd]

I have a separate vSwitch for the Management and Vmotion networks.  Both are VMkernal port groups so I'm not sure what you mean.  If files are not transfers through the vmotion switch then I probably don't need to dedicate 3 nics to vmotion.

[weinstein5]

That is correct - the extra NICs on the vmotion are not necessary -

[kurtd]

So how can I increase the speed when both host and datastore are changed during vmotion?  Would I need to add more network cards to the management network instead?  And how would I configure nic teaming to gain better performance?

[kurtd]

Here is the best info I've found so far

http://frankdenneman.nl/2013/02/07/why-is-vmotion-using-the-management-network-instead-of-the-vmotio...