ESX 3.0 - Pool 4 NICs into one large aggregate...

[COS]

Is this possible?

We are using one NIC (onboard) and 4 other unused NICS (2 Add on cards Dual Port each). We want to pool the 4 unused NIC's into one phat pipe. Is it possible? and how do we do it? I know our Cicso switches support it because that is how our NetApps filers are connected.

Will it require additional software or license?

Thanks

[waynegrow]

Just create a vSwitch and add all of them to it.

[MR-T · Accepted solution]

It doesn't require any additional licenceing or software for this.

You can add al these onto a single vswitch.

You can then go into the virtual switch and configure specifics regarding failover or load balancing settings.

[esiebert7625]

Be advised though a VM can only use the total bandwidth of one NIC, so if you bond 4 1GB NIC's your VM's are still limited to 1GB which is the max of any one physical NIC.

See these posts...

Can a VM use more then one physical NIC on a vSwitch - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=632932

Bonding NIC’s on a VM - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=561718

Aggregate multiple NIC’s into a single pipe - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=83099