1 VM, 2 Virtual NICS --> Can each vNIC be in separate Port Groups?

[shelzmike]

Pretty simple question really just unable to find anything with the search terms I have been using. I have an environment with about 5 different vSwitches and some with various port groups, etc. I am specifically talking about 1 particular vSwitch in this instance. There are 3 VMs that are connected to our machine network (manufacturing environment where the machines are all networks). This vSwitch uses one physical NIC to connect to the larger physical switch network where all the machines are connected to throughout the plant.

I have a diagnostic machine setup that I have Wireshark installed on. Currently, there is only 1 vNIC assigned in this server that is connected to above mentioned vSwitch. I use this as the management port so that I can connect to it. However, I do not want this port to receive the packets.

So the question:

I want to setup another vNIC in this machine that is in it's own separate port group (separate from the management port as listed above). I also want to assign a dedicated physical NIC to map this to so that the only machine using this physical NIC is this sniffer machine. So, can I have 1 VM that uses 2 vNICS that connect to 2 different port groups on the same vSwitch so that I can turn promiscuous mode on only on the port group for the capturing NIC so that the rest of my very crucial machine network servers don't drown in packets on the other port group? Thanks!

Mike

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

Yes, definitively you can have a VM with two vNIC in different port groups and no matter in which vSwitch this port groups resides.

[shelzmike]

Thanks @Richardson Porto. That is what I figured, but hadn't actually tried it and wanted to be extra careful venturing into unknowns (to me anyway). So you are stating that what I have proposed in terms of monitoring will work (of course, this depends on an appropriate setup on the physical switches, I understand). Thanks for the help!

Mike

[rcporto]

You're welcome Mike,

And remember that you may need change the network interface bind order since your VM will be dual homed.

And don't forget to award points for helpful or correct answers.

[shelzmike]

Just wanted to update and close this conversation out. I was able to get this setup without any issues whatsoever. I did want to clarify that in order to get what I needed done (connection to 2 different subnets) I did have to create a special vSwitch that was separate from the others and dedicated to just this packet capturing NIC. Since this was going to be in promiscuous mode, I didn't want any potential of packet flooding on any other nics in a switch or port group. Thanks for the help!

Mike