Virtual Networking

vNetwork features in vSphere- Networking Inventory

·      vSwitches can have 8-4088 ports

·      Max up to 256 port groups on host

·      Up to 10 virtual NICs per Vm

·      VMNEXT3- 3^rd Generation NIC

·      IPV6- Support for IPV6

·      Features- NIC Teaming, L2 Security, vLan Tagging, CDP, put bound network traffic shaper

Two Types of Port Groups (Connections)

1.    Virtual Machine port group:

·      It provides connectivity between VMS to vSwitch

·      By default mapping VM network

·      It support VLAN Tagging  

2.    VM Kernal Port Group:

·      It requires an IP Address

·      It’s the Virtual adaptors of ESXi

·      By default name Is management network

·      It is also support VLAN tagging

·      VM kernel is hart of ESXi

·      VM kernel is use for FT and management traffic.

New vNetwork Features in vSphere

·        NEW! Networking Inventory

·        vSwitches can have 8-4088 ports

·        Max of 512 port groups on a host

·        Up to 10 virtual NICs per VM

·        VMXNET3 - third generation para-virtNIC

·        IPv6 - support for VMKernel and SC Ports

·         NIC teaming, L2 Security, VLAN tagging,

vNetworkTerms -vmnic, vswitch, vswif, & port group

·    VMware NIC (vmnic) - physical NIC in the server - not a virtual N IC

·    Virtual Switch (vSwitch)

·     Service Console virtual interface (vswif0)

·     Port group names (VM Network, Service Console, and VMKernel) but you can create you

     own - port group name is called a "Network Label“

·     vmnic in each ESX Server maps to a port group & each port group is inside a vSwitch

vNetworkConfiguration Scenarios

·  Single N IC

   Most common

   Default configuration

·  Private / Host Only

   vSwitch not connected to a NIC

   Great for testing & development

   VM must be all on the same server (no dvswitch)

vNetwork Configuration Scenarios

Multiple NICs

Load Balancing

Spread Load of VMs across multiple NICs to increase performance

Redundancy

Other security-related scenarios, such as through vShield Zones to create multiple virtual DMZs

Distributed Virtual Switch (dvSwitch)

                        

Using VLANs with vSphere

·      VLANs create logical groupings of ports / devices rather than being forced into physical groupings

·      VM Network, VMKernel, and Service Console ports all can have VLAN IDs configured

·      To use VLANs

ü Enter a VLAN ID between 1-4094

ü Enter VLAN ID 4095 the port group can see VLAN traffic on any VLAN while leaving the VLAN tags intact

·   DvPorts offer many more VLAN options

Viewing Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) stats

·      Connect ESX server NICs to Cisco switches with CDP enabled and you will be able to view CDP stats in the vSphere Client

·      Examples of what you can see are:

§  Cisco switch model

§  Software version

§  Timeouts

·       To have ESX make CDP info available to Cisco switch, just do (both = advertise & listen):

      esxcfg-vswitch -B both <vSwitch>

CLI Network Troubleshooting Commands

esxcfg-vswif -l

Provides a list of the service console’s current network interfaces. Check that vswif0 is present and that the current IP address and netmask are correct.

esxcfg-vswitch -l

Provides a list of the current virtual switch configurations. Check that the uplink adapter configured for the service console is connected to the appropriate physical network.

exscfg-nics -l

Provides a list of the current network adapters. Check that the uplink adapter configured for the service console is up and that the speed and duplex are both correct.

Service Console Command line Networking Tools

esxcfg-nics -s <speed> <nic>

Changes the speed of a network adapter.

esxcfg-nics -d <duplex> <nic>

Changes the duplex of a network adapter.

esxcfg-vswif -I <new ip address> vswifX Changes the service console’s IP address.

esxcfg-vswif -n <new netmask> vswifX Changes the service console’s netmask.

esxcfg-vswitch -U <old vmnic> <service console vswitch> Removes the uplink for the service console.

esxcfg-vswitch -L <new vmnic> <service console vswitch> Changes the uplink for the service console.

Best Practices for vSphereNetworking

·     Separate network types on to their own physical N IC for greater security and performance

·      Example: keep the service console and VM Kernel VMotion connection on their own physical N IC

·     This could be accomplished using VLANs if there are not enough physical NICs

·      Note that adding & removing NICs doesn’t affect VMs connected to a vSwitch (unless there are zero)

·      Implement vShield Zones for greatest security