Generally IP hash is considered the best solution for load sharing.
MAC/Port based -
Outbound NIC is chosen based on source MAC or originating port id
Client traffic is consistently sent to the same physical NIC until there is a failover
Replies are received on the same NIC as the physical switch learns the MAC/ switch port association
Better scaling if: no of vNICs> no of pNICs
VM cannot use more than one Physical NIC unless it has two or more virtual NICs
IP Hash -
Outbound NIC is chosen based on “Source-destination L3 address pair”
Scalability is dependent on the no of TCP/IP sessions to unique destinations. No benefit for bulk transfer between hosts
Physical switch will see the client MAC on multiple ports
Can disrupt MAC address learning on the physical switch
Inbound traffic is unpredictable.
NIC Teaming Load Balancing Policy - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=463074񱃢
Networking Virtual Machines - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/TAC9689-A.pdf
Networking Scenarios & Troubleshooting - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/tac9689-b.pdf
ESX3 Networking Internals - http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=41
Fyi…if you find this post helpful, please award points using the Helpful/Correct buttons.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Thanks, Eric
Visit my website: http://vmware-land.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
