Is it supported to cross connect 10GbE network adaptors to the peer ESXi server for vMotion ?

[LeftTurn22]

Hello Community and good day,

please consider small production environments, small clusters comprised of 2x servers running VMware ESXi, each of which is equipped with several 10 GbE physical NICs, but unfortunately the LAN switch infrastructure is still 1GbE.

Although the LAN switch infrastructure still 1GbE is usually not a big deal in such scenarios, being able to use a 10GbE network in place of a 1GbE network for vMotion will result in significant improvements in vMotion performance (especially for larger virtual machines).Ideally we could consider using multiple 10GbE network adaptors for vMotion to further improve vMotion performance.

Does anybody know if, in such scenarios, it is supported to cross connect a couple of 10GbE network adaptors to the peer ESXi server in order to be able to use a 10GbE network for vMotion ? Of course, these network adaptors will be intended to be used exclusively for vMotion traffic flows. If this scenario is supported, on each host would you recommend:

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1) A single vswitch for vMotion backed by 2x physical 10Gb NIC cross connected to the peer server and a couple of VMkernel port groups for vMotion
2) Two separate vswitches for vMotion, each one of them backed by a single physical 10Gb NIC cross connected to the peer server and a VMkernel port group for vMotion created on each of the separate vswitches for vMotion
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Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Regards,

M.

[virtsysadmin]

Do you plane move everything to the new switch ?

please refer to the port binding - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2038869

[LeftTurn22]

Hello,

we plan on moving to the new switch(es) only the VMkernel port group(s) for vMotion.

Thanks !

Massimiliano

[depping · Accepted solution]

Yes, cross-connect is supported for both vSAN and vMotion.

[LeftTurn22]

Hi there Duncan,

first of all thank you for taking the time to reply to my question. It is very much appreciated.

Out of curiosity, for vMotion would you recommend a single vswitch backed by multiple physical 10Gb NIC cross connected to the peer server or separate vswitches backed by a single physical 10Gb NIC ?

Thanks !

M.

[depping · Accepted solution]

With a cross-over I would just use 1 link to be honest, chances are extremely low it fails, and it simplifies the setup also. And i would just separate it from the rest, that also limits the chances of making mistakes operationally speaking.

[LeftTurn22]

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, much appreciated.