Multiple management networks and NICs

[jodell1]

If I have three ESX/ESXi hosts in a vSphere 4 cluster that has two management networks (seperate subnets and physical switches, for redundancy) with a separate NIC on each (assigned management traffic), what needs to be done to allow management to continue if one NIC fails?

Under vCenter, do I add both management IP's to the cluster as if they were two different ESX/ESXi hosts? Or is there another method to tell vCenter that this host can be reached at two different IP address?

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to the VC Forum. This is really an vCenter issue.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009

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[danm66]

umm... none of the above??? :smileyblush:

Once you try to add the host with the 2nd service console, VC will recognize that it already has that host in the inventory so that option won't work.

Your options are to leave your setup the way it is or to have 2 uplinks to the one Service Console, with each uplink going through different switches. That still leaves the gateway as a single point of failure, but does allow operations to continue normally should one of the nics or links go down.

If you leave it the way it is, you will be forced to manage each host directly with the vsphere client and not have any of the vcenter features until normal network connectivity is restored; should the primary service console link go down.

The only other alternative would be to setup a second VC instance that you add each host into with the 2nd SC IP address, but it would have to be in a stand-by type mode as a host can only be managed by one VC at a time. The host will show as disconnected or not responding in the other VC. That's a costly option for a second VC license, though.