confusion between VMOTION and MGMT traffic

[suhag79]

I have one cluster with TWO ESXi  5 Host. Each host is having 4 no of GBPS Eth ports.

Below is the how I have utilized all 4 eth ports.

1. Eth0 (vmk1) as MGMT interface
   
2. Eth1 (vmk2) as backup MGMT interface
   
3. Eth2 (vmnic0) for VM traffic (Port group)
   
4. Eth3 (vmk3) for VMOTION traffic only.
   

Now problem is when I do the VMOTION for any Virtual Machine and then I observed the traffic utilization in performance tab of esx host, I can see that MGMT interface is utilizing also with vmotion interface.

I don’t have enable tick mark for VMOTION traffic for vmk1 and vmk2 then why it was being utilized while doing vmotion?

My second question  is,

Even though I have not enable MGMT traffic or have not tick mark for MGMT traffic on vmk3, why I am able to login to ESXI host through VI client by using vmk3?

Is there any best practice to use these 4 eth ports?

Regards,

Suhag Desai

[vMario156]

I don´t really get your idea behind your setup....

Some of my thoughts.....

-If want to have a "backup interface" you normally don´t create a second port group. You can just add a second nic to the port group as a standy by adapter. Also you could run it as a team for loadbalancing (which would be highly recommended for storage / vm traffic for example).

-Why using 2 nics as mgmt interface and only one for the vm and vmotion traffic? Thats a big single point of failore. Keep in mind that your VMs keep running if your link to the mgmt goes down.

My suggestion would be:

a) VM Traffic (nic 1 & nic 2 as team)

b) VMotion (nic 3 active & nic 4 standby)

c) Mgmt (nic 4 active & nic 3 standby)

Regards,

Mario

[suhag79]

Thanks.....Got it...

But how can i use define nic3 as active in VMOTION and nic4 as active in MGMT ?

b) VMotion (nic 3 active & nic 4 standby)

c) Mgmt (nic 4 active & nic 3 standby)

I think, if once i use nic3 and nic4 for VMOTION with nic3 active and nic4 as standby then how can i create MGMT with nic 4 active & nic 3 standby..

and what about my another question regarding utilization of MGMT interface during VMOTIOn?

Thanks,

[vMario156]

You can set the active / standby / unused settings in the portgroup properties:

You can use the same NICs in multiple portgroups.

Can you post some screenshots on the network stats when doing a vmotion.

Regards

Mario

[suhag79]

Have done the switch configuration as per your advice. Please see the snap and let me know whether it is configured properly. I had to use two IP address, one for MGMT vmkernel port and another for VMOTION vmkernel port. Is it best practice to use two different IP addresses for this task?

Thanks,

Suhag Desai.

[rickardnobel]

Suhag Desai wrote:

Since the Management and the vMotion vmkernel IP addresses are on the same IP subnet the two vmkernel ports are of no use. You must separate these on different IP networks to actually separate the traffic.