VMotion/Service Console/Heartbeat network

[ck001]

I'm new to VMware and I just would like some information from a "Best Practices" point of view. I have 6 NIC's to use for each ESXi server. I planned on using 3 NIC's that are teamed for network throughput to the production server VLAN. But i'm curious about the service console port.

#1 Can I combine the service console/vmotion/heartbeat onto one physical NIC/network that is segregated from the production VLAN?

#2 Can I team NIC's for the service console/heartbeat/vmotion network

#3 Just cause I can do the items above, is it a best practice? what would you guys recommend?

Attached is my drawing of what I have in my head, let me know what modifications you would make to this.

[Gerrit_Lehr]

There are a lot of threads about network design, you might want to have a look at them.

Anyway, you don't need an extra heartbeat inside the ESX Cluster, that is done by the Service Console. I would recommend using one vswitch with 4 NICs for VMs, and another one for VMKernel and SC with two NICs. You could connect VMKernel, SC and VM Network on the same switch but then they share the same NICs. Also, refer to the ESX Config Guide Network Section.

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

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[ck001]

So just to clarify, it's not problematic to team the SC/VM NIC's right?

[oreeh]

No, from a performance point of view it is not.

From a security view, most likely.

[ck001]

From a security point of view? What am I missing here? Now I really do feel like a rookie. Please share your recommendations.

[Gerrit_Lehr]

Well, you might not want to share normal VM and SC Management Traffic on the same NICs. Also, during the VMotion Process, the virtual memory gets transmitted between the ESX VMKernel ports which leads to further security concerns.

Kind Regards,

Gerrit Lehr

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[oreeh]

What Gerrit already mentioned...