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eagertolearn
Contributor
Contributor

Want to add a NIC to the ESX host (VI3)

I have a ESX server (3.0) ,i have used up the onboard NIC for COS, and VMK virtual switches. So i installed a dualport external NIC (gigabit) for Virtual Machines.

Virtual Center server sees this NIC and i was able to create virtual switches for these with appropriate VLANs

oneof the virtual guest is XP and other one RHEL

but wheni try to use the server and connect it to say NFS or to Active Directory, it wont work

it seems like i need to configure the NIC from ESX host using esxcfg commands.

any help offfered will be greatly appreciated

thanks

V

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4 Replies
oreeh
Immortal
Immortal

FYI: this thread has been moved to the ESX Server 3.x Configuration forum.

Oliver Reeh

VMware Communities User Moderator

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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Are you getting any specific errors when trying to configure NFS or AD? With NFS you will need a vmkernel port with access to the NFS server and for both you will need to open access on the ESX firewall (configuration \ security profile).

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jhanekom
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Dave I think he's talking about the client side of things when referring to NFS/AD - i.e. he's got a VM he's trying to give access to a physical NFS or AD server.

You mention that you're trying to use VLANs. For VLANs to work, you will need to configure your (physical) switches appropriately to set 802.1Q VLAN tagging for the ports these adapters are connected to. Have you done this? Maybe simplify things as a start - just until you are comfortable with it - and just use flat networking.

There should generally not be any need to use the esxcfg-* commands in the normal course of operations if you have access to the VI Client.

Also, with regards to some pointers around how to team NICs, take a look at the following presentation: http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=43

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Texiwill
Leadership
Leadership

Hello,

The vSwitch is just a switch, if you are using portgroups then you are using 802.1q (VLAN Tagging). The physical NIC is in bridged mode providing a bridge from the vSwitch to the pSwitch. The pSwitch must also understand 802.1q. I suggest reading http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/997 and http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/412 to better understand ESX networking. Once you solve your networking problems the rest should work.

Besure to permission the VMs for NFS/AD access as well. If you require such permissions.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the forthcoming 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', publishing January 2008, Copyright 2008 Pearson Education. Available on Rough Cuts at http://safari.informit.com/9780132302074

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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