Configuring vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) Virtual Adapters

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps for configuring Distributed Switch Virtual Adapters.

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable

Resolution

Note: Before creating Virtual Adapters make sure a dvPortgroup is present. For more information, see vNetwork Distributed PortGroup (dvPortGroup) configuration (1010593).

To configure Distributed Switch Virtual Adapters:

Note: There are two types of Virtual Adapters, Service console vswif and VMKernel vmknic.

1. Click Host > Configuration > Networking.
   
   Note: This is not a cluster-wide option.
    
2. Choose the vNetwork Distributed Switch view and click Manage Virtual Adapters.
   
   Note: You are prompted with the Manage Virtual Adapters dialog, where you can:
3. • Add a new adapter.
     
     Note: If you already have vDS virtual adapters, you can migrate it back to a vSwitch and delete it. Deleting the last vswif is not allowed.
      
   • Edit the adapter.
     • IP address/netmask
     • Default gateway
     • DNS servers

3. Click Add for each Virtual Adapter type.

There are two options:

1. Create a new adapter.
2. Migrate the existing adapterfrom vSwitch to dvSwitch.
   
   Note: With either option, you are prompted to specify an existing dvPortgroup to be connected. If you chose to migrate existing virtual network adapters, choose the adapters you want to migrate. For each selected adapter, specify which dvPortgroup you want to connect.
   
   Note: The migration does not interrupt the traffic. For example, vCenter does not show the ESX as disconnected even if you migrate its only vswif interface.

To configure Distributed Switch Virtual Adapters in vSphere Web Client 5.x:

1. In the vSphere Web Client, go to the distributed switch
2. From the Actions menu, click Add and Manage Hosts.

 

Additional Information

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For a concept overview, see vNetwork Distributed Switch on ESX 4.x - Concepts Overview (1010557)