vSphere V5.1 networking with HP

[ALL212]

I'm installing vSphere 5.1 essentials plus on a pair of HP DL380G8's - each has 12 NICS.  This might be overkill!

I've a pair of HP 2910al switches that will be used exclusively for this project.  I have jumbo and flow-control turned on.  I have 6 ports on each switch trunked to each other.

Do I need any VLANs ever?  On either the switch side or the VMware side?  I've created a configuration that more or less matches the best practices guide - give or take a NIC.  I need 2 NIC's on each server reserved for a future project.

What is my most efficient use of networking with this?

Thank you.

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Community -It is a good idea to use vlans to isolate the different types of traffic -  If you do use vlans you will have to configure bothe within the vSphere environment as well as the physical switches,

[ALL212]

I can do that.  But which traffic should get the vlans?  

Can I VLAN the trunk?  Should I VLAN all the iSCSI traffic?  Can I VLAN the Vmotion and fault tolerance?

Many ports, many options.

I forgot the good stuff - on the back end of this will be two HP Storevirtual 4330's.

My picture...

[weinstein5]

Yes you can vlan all the traffic - as I said best practice is to isolate the different types of traffic - managemnet, iscsi, vm, vmotion - for security and performance.