Can you have VMs attached to an INTERNAL only vswitch and still vMotion the VMs??
You cannot perform a live vMotion of a VM that has a vNIC, attached to an internal only switch with no pNICs assigned.
You can cold migrate a VM that has an internal only switch attached, but you will have problem's with the VM unless a switch is available with the same named port group. on the destination host.
How can a VM router with no pNIC allow traffic to flow between two physical hosts? At some point there needs to be a physical connection between two hosts in order for traffic to pass between them.
Regards,
Paul
Some check are perform before a vMotion.
But if you have mistmatching network configuration (for example different portgroup label) or isolated vNIC, then vMotion will still work... but the final result is the virtual networking will not work.
Andre
Thank you Paul and Andre, but this doesn't quite answer what I was after. I understand the vswitch and port group naming requirements (i.e. being the same from source to dest). But ...
1. Where does it say in the VMWare documentation that you cannot vMotion a VM attached to an internal-only vSwitch?
2. There are plenty of situations where a VM might be connected to an internal-only vswitch.
The image above shows an actual situation. The VMs 1 to 3 are only attached to internal-only vswitches - and yet I am told they can vmotion. Indeed, why shouldn't they be able to vmotion to another host ready with the appropriate setup?
So Paul, in answer to your question "How can a VM router with no pNIC allow traffic to flow between two physical hosts? At some point there needs to be a physical connection between two hosts in order for traffic to pass between them." The above image shows what you have asked. There is technically a physical pathway to another Host, but this scenario has VMs on internal-only switches. So maybe that is questions three!
3. What is the correct definition of an "internal-only" vswitch?
Thanks again!
Mark
1. There isn't... in fact you can do vMotion... but a functional requirement (in order to make VM work) is have correct portgroup naming.
3. There isn't a definition... The correct term could be "isolated vSwitch" -> without ANY uplink (aka pNIC).
It isn't a technical limitation... you can move the VM... but if portgroup name mistmatch you will have the vNIC disconntected...
Andre