new cisco 3750 network design and vSphere4

[KristofPattou]

Hello,

We are looking to renew our Vmware infrastructure.

Servers will be 5 x IBM X3650 (2 x intel 5540 quad core and 72gb mem)

Network on 2 x Cisco 3750

San emc CX4-240

Problem is how can best configure our 3750 swtiches.

The 2 cisco 3750 switched will be stacked as 1 logical switch.

Is it better to connect each esx host to both cisco's (active/standby nic), or will this cause troubles with the stack ?

Or can we better spread the 5 hosts over the two 3750 switches ?

Any network design ideas our considerations are very welcome.

Thanks,

Kristof

[habibalby]

Hello,

That depends on the number of pNICs you have on your hosts plus, the network topology you want to achive with VMware vSphere

If you are with 6 pNICs,

1. vSwitch0 with 2 PortGroups "vLAN and Physical trunking must be configured with Taged Port" and in the Portgroup specify the vLAN ID

1. vmnic0

2. vmnic1

1. Service Console

2. VMkernel

2. vSwitch2 with 1 or more PortGroups; vmnic2 & vmnic3

1. Production

2. Internal-Only

3. Private

4. etc

3. vSwitch3 with 1 or more portgroups;
   vmnic4 & vmnic5

1. DMZ

2. SecureZone

If you are with 8 or more pNICs;

Separate the Service console and VMkernel to be each on it's own vSwitch and dedicated 2 pNICs each.

Best Regards,

Hussain Al Sayed

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[KristofPattou]

Hi,

thanks for the answer.

And how would you connect it to the 2 stacked 3750 cisco ?

Would it be good to put vmnic2 on cisco sw1 and vmnic3 on cisco sw2 to have a failover if one of the cisco's go down ?

Kristof

[habibalby]

Hello,

Yes, i forgot to mention that, it's better to connect one Physical nic on pSwicth1 and the other on pSwitch2

Best Regards,

Hussain Al Sayed

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