vSphere MAC address types
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vSphere MAC address types

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Article ID: 324691

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Updated On:

Products

VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

The purpose of this article is to provide information about the various MAC address types available in vSphere.

Resolution

Q: What are the valid values of address type?
  • Manual: Statically assigned MAC address (user will assign a MAC address manually)
  • Assigned: MAC address assigned by vCenter
  • Generated: Automatically generated MAC address (MAC address will automatically generated by ESXi)
Q: What is the difference between Assigned and Generated ? What type should I use while restoring a VM to ESXi directly and to vCenter Server?

Assigned is generated by vCenter Server, Generated is generated by ESXi. You should use Assigned for vCenter Server and Generated for ESXi.

Q: When you create a virtual Machine using webclient, you see only 2 options for MAC type, Manual and Automatic. Is Automatic relevant to Assigned address type  or Generated address type ?
  • If you connected webclient using vCenter IP, it is relevant to assigned.
  • If you connected to UI client using ESXi server, it is relevant to generated.

For more information, see vSphere Web Services API.