You'd be looking for the New-VirtualSwitch and the New-VMHostNetworkAdapter/Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter cmdlets if you are looking to do this on a standard switch.

I'd suggest starting your reading with those - I found the examples quite informative.  Give that a try and report back if you run into problems - remember to post what commands you've tried.

Hi tjurgens‌

Thanks for the reply - I have no issue creating vMotion on the any vSphere version that is Pre 6.0.

Issue only arises when i need to create and new TCP/IP stack and assign that stack to the vMotion VMK - This is to allow for L3 vMotion

Attached is sample of what i used to create vMotion VMk currently on anything pre vSphere6.0

##########################################################

# Add vMotion VMkernel port for all servers in a cluster

#

##########################################################

#

# VERSION - 1.2

#

param(  

  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$vcenter,

  $Subnet = "255.255.255.0",

  $vMotionVLAN = "25",

  $vMotionName = "Vmotion",

  $vmotion_ip_start = "192.168.25.100",

  $VMhost ="*",

  $clusterName = '*'

)

##########################################################   

$server = connect-viserver $vcenter

# Start Creating vMotion Network #############################

$vmotion_ip_start_int=$vmotion_ip_start.split('.')

$vmotion_ip_start_int=[int]$vmotion_ip_start_int[3]

Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Start Creating vMotion Network".ToUpper()

ForEach ($VMhostname in ($cluster | Get-VMHost -name $VMhost)| sort)

{

  if ($VMhostname | Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMKernel | where {$_.PortGroupName -match $vMotionName}) {

  Write-host -ForegroundColor yellow "WARNING : $VMhostname already has a VMkernel port named $vMotionName - Skipping"

  }

  else {

  write-host -ForegroundColor green "Creating vMotion port group for $VMhostname"

  $netIP = $vmotion_ip_start.split('.')

  $IP = $netIP[0] + '.' + $netIP[1] + '.' + $netIP[2] + '.' + $vmotion_ip_start_int

  $null = New-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $VMhostname -PortGroup $vMotionName -VirtualSwitch $(Get-VirtualSwitch -VMHost $VMhostname) -IP $IP -SubnetMask $Subnet -VMotionEnabled $true

  $null = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $vMotionName -VMHost $VMhostname | Set-VirtualPortGroup -VLanId $vMotionVLAN

  $vmotion_ip_start_int = $vmotion_ip_start_int +1

  }

  }

  Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "End Creating vMotion Network".ToUpper()

# End Creating vMotion Network ###############################

Hi cliffcahill‌, I don't see any flaws in your script, but I do not have any ESXi 6/vCenter 6 environments to test on.  Do you get any errors?

Script works fine one vSphere 6.0 aswell - I'm looking to update it in order to do all the new vMotion L3 Enhancements that were released in vSphere6.0

Have you updated your PowerCLI to the latest version?

VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.0 Release 2 Release Notes

Yep i had a look through the release notes . No New relevant cmdlets unfortunately . I might have a look to complete it by using the ESXCLI in host install KS script

The last I looked at this from a CLI perspective it was still only supported via the vSphere web interface.

I also can not find parameters on PowerCli commandlets for host network config to support this new features, but I successfully did this task with get-esxcli:

$vmhost = Get-VMHost <hostname>

$esxcli= Get-EsxCli -VMHost $vmhost

#adding new portgroup for vmkernel traffic

$vmhost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Name "vSwitch0" | New-VirtualPortGroup "vmk_vmotion1" -VLanId <VLAN>

#adding new network stack

$esxcli.network.ip.netstack.add($false, "vmotion")

#adding new vmkernel interface to new stack

$esxcli.network.ip.interface.add($null, $null, "vmk1", $null, $null, "vmotion", "vmk_vmotion1")

#configuring vmk1 to use dhcp

$esxcli.network.ip.interface.ipv4.set("vmk1", $null, $null, $null, "dhcp")

Also you can archive same result using esxcli directly on the ESXi:

esxcli network ip netstack add -N vmotion

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p vmk_vmotion1 -v vSwitch0

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p vmk_vmotion1 -v <VLAN>

esxcli network ip interface add -i vmk1 -N vmotion -p vmk_vmotion1

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i vmk1 -t dhcp

Get-esxcli is a good option.

However it is also possible to use directly the API via PowerCLI.

To associate a new VMkernel interface to the default VMotion stack

The HostNetworkSystem has a method AddVirtualNic

This AddVirtualNic needs a HostVirtualNicSpec as a parameter.
The HostVirtualNicSpec has a property netStackInstanceKey

You can use there "vmotion" instead of "defaultTcpipStack"

It should also be possible to modify or add a new network stack.

The HostNetworkSystem has a method UpdateNetworkConfig

It needs as a parameter HostNetworkConfig

This object has a property netStackSpec of type HostNetworkConfigNetStackSpec

And in it netStackInstance of type HostNetStackInstance

Hi,

maybe you are still working on this topic. So

I have created a short script which creates a vmkernel port with vmotion stack.

$vmHost = Get-VMHost -Name "esxName"

$portgoup = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name "Management"

$nic = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostVirtualNicSpec

$distributedVirtualPort = New-Object VMware.Vim.DistributedVirtualSwitchPortConnection

$nic.distributedVirtualPort = $distributedVirtualPort

$nic.distributedVirtualPort.portgroupKey = $portgoup.key

$nic.distributedVirtualPort.switchUuid = $portgoup.VirtualSwitch.key

$nic.netStackInstanceKey = 'vmotion'

$ip = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostIpConfig

$ip.subnetMask = '255.255.255.0'

$ip.ipAddress = '192.168.0..10

$ip.dhcp = $false

$ip.ipV6Config = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostIpConfigIpV6AddressConfiguration

$ip.ipV6Config.dhcpV6Enabled = $false

$ip.ipV6Config.autoConfigurationEnabled = $false

$ip.IpV6Config = $ipV6Config

$nic.Ip = $ip

$networkSystem = $vmHost.ExtensionData.configManager.NetworkSystem

$_this = Get-view -Id ($networkSystem.Type + "-" + $networkSystem.Value)

$_this.AddVirtualNic('', $nic)

You can find the related documentation here:

vSphere 6.0 Documentation Center

Let Me test this and ill get back to you .

The solution provided by inok works great for standard vSwitches and port groups! Thank you!

The solution provided by MPaeth works great for distributed vSwitches and port groups! Thank you!

I also can not find parameters on PowerCli commandlets for host network config to support this new features, but I successfully did this task with get-esxcli:

$vmhost = Get-VMHost <hostname>

$esxcli= Get-EsxCli -VMHost $vmhost

#adding new portgroup for vmkernel traffic

$vmhost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Name "vSwitch0" | New-VirtualPortGroup "vmk_vmotion1" -VLanId <VLAN>

#adding new network stack

$esxcli.network.ip.netstack.add($false, "vmotion")

#adding new vmkernel interface to new stack

$esxcli.network.ip.interface.add($null, $null, "vmk1", $null, $null, "vmotion", "vmk_vmotion1")

#configuring vmk1 to use dhcp

$esxcli.network.ip.interface.ipv4.set("vmk1", $null, $null, $null, "dhcp")

Also you can archive same result using esxcli directly on the ESXi:

esxcli network ip netstack add -N vmotion

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p vmk_vmotion1 -v vSwitch0

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p vmk_vmotion1 -v <VLAN>

esxcli network ip interface add -i vmk1 -N vmotion -p vmk_vmotion1

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i vmk1 -t dhcp

Ok so this creates a new Custom TCP/IP stack.  Do you know how to get this to work using the existing vMotion stack listed under System stacks?

Edit: configuring this on vSwitch0 and not a distributed switch.

HI,

This code works, but the vmotion portgroup is created on a local Switch, how can it be created into a Distributed Switch (vDS)?

I've tried to use similar powercli sintax, searching into esxcli commands to use a DsWitch, without success.  Any suggestion?

Best Regards