configure distributed switch with different hosts

[Blaze4up]

Hi,

I'm having a question about the distributed switch in ESXi 6.

I have a few hosts with 4 uplinks and they are connected to the distributed switch. this works al fine.

But now I have more hosts to connect to the distributed switch, they are in a different cluster, cause they are configured differently, but in the same datacenter.

These hosts have 2 uplinks, but the distributed switch is configured with 4 uplinks.

So can I connect these new hosts to the switch without any problem or future problem ?

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

It depends. You can add your new host to the same Distributed Switch, but since theses hosts have only two NIC, you need to make sure that there is no teaming/failover configuration binding to your dvUplinks that don't have a physical NIC assigned.

For example, consider the following:

Old host:

dvUplink1 -> vmnic0

dvUplink2 -> vmnic1

dvUplink3 -> vmnic2

dvUplink4 -> vmnic3

New host:

dvUplink1 -> vmnic0

dvUplink2 -> vmnic1

dvUplink3 -> no physical NIC

dvUplink4 -> no physical NIC

Port Group Teaming Failover (BAD CONFIGURATION):

Active Uplinks: dvUplink3, dvUplink4

Unused Uplinks: dvUplink1, dvUplink2

Port Group Teaming Failover (GOOD CONFIGURATION):

Active Uplinks: dvUplink1, dvUplink2, dvUplink3, dvUplink4

With the BAD CONFIGURATION, the port group will try pass traffic through the dvUplink3 and dvUplink4, but since there is no assigned physical NIC to these dvUplinks on the new hosts, the virtual machines running in that host will not be able to reach external networks.

[Blaze4up]

Hi Richardson,

Thank you for your answer. I think this answers my question.