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RaniBaki
Contributor
Contributor

vmnic renumbering

I need to renumber the vmnics on multiple ESX 3.5 hosts. I tried editing the /etc/vmware/esx.conf file as suggested in other threads, but I couldn't find any device lines such as:

/device/<physical_address>/vmkname = "vmnic3"

The only instances with the vmnics I want to change are:

/net/pnic/child[0004]/name = "vmnic#"

These are new servers and maybe because I haven't assigned the vmnics to vswitches, but I'm not sure.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

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vmPUNK
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You could potentially change the numbering order in /etc/modules.conf

from

alias eth0 e1000

alias eth1 e1000

alias eth2 e1000

alias eth3 e1000

to

alias eth2 e1000

alias eth1 e1000

alias eth3 e1000

alias eth0 e1000

and reboot

just a guess - gl

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MikeAT
Contributor
Contributor

mhh you should see the NICs in the esx.conf file even when you didnt add the NICs to vSwitches.

Did you search just for "vmnic0"?

If you have issues with onboard/external NICs and their ordering you can install ESX just with the onboard NICs and then add the external NICs later.

cheers

Michael

RaniBaki
Contributor
Contributor

vmPunk, I'm trying to change the vmnic#, not eth#.

Thanks

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RaniBaki
Contributor
Contributor

vmnic0, 1, 2, and 3 had device lines, but not the rest.

Thanks

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