Multiple cluster management distributed switch Best Practice

[jaelae]

I currently have multiple clusters available on my vCenter appliance where each cluster serves a separate purpose e.g. Databases, Infrastructure, Production, and Testing. Currently we use multiple distributed switches where each switch focuses on a certain set of VLANs for certain purposes as follows: 

• Database_Management switch = vMotion vmkernel and Management vmkernel for VMware
• Database_VM switch = Virtual Machine traffic for all VMs on the Database cluster
• Production_Management switch = vMotion vmkernel and Management vmkernel for VMware
• Production_VM Switch = Virtual Machine traffic for all VMs on the Database cluster

In these scenarios the virtual machine switches will contain different VLANs that are specific to different subnets. However, the same VLANs and Subnets are used for the management switches. The problem here though is if we ever have to vMotion a VM from Production to Database we cannot easily do this since they are using separate dvSwitches. Is there any benefit to keeping this separate though if both Database_Management and Production_Management have the exact same VLANs and Subnets?

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

[adamwiso]

What version of vCenter/ESXi are you running(?) - 6.0 has some enhancements that might help you.

However I have set up similar environments with separate clusters, but for the most part sharing the same VDS.  The L2 segment is the L2 segment (no matter the amount of VDS you have), a VDS for each cluster makes sense for some cases, but if it is the same segment, keep them on the same VDS.  Having MGMT and Vmotion on one cluster and one VDS is one thing, but don't have that traverse more than one VDS.  Less sprawl means less complexity and easier manageability.  My 2cents.