New NIC has 4 ports, I would like ESXi to only see 2 of the ports of the Integrated NIC

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

An issue may be encountered when adding a new host with a 4-port integrated NIC to an ESXi cluster. The goal is for ESXi to only recognize two of these ports, with the remaining two being ignored. Additionally, the visible ports need to be labeled as vmnic2 and vmnic3 to maintain consistency with existing hosts in the cluster. This discrepancy in vmnic numbering could lead to inconsistencies in the cluster configuration.

Cause

ESXi automatically detects and assigns names to all available network interfaces based on its internal logic. This default behavior does not inherently support ignoring specific ports or enforcing a particular naming scheme. Research, including a Broadcom KB article titled "How VMware ESXi determines the order in which names are assigned to devices", confirmed that manual intervention is required to alter this default naming behavior.

Resolution

The recommended solution involves a two-step approach:

1. Disable unwanted ports in the BIOS/UEFI: Contact the hardware vendor to get instructions on how to disable the two unwanted NIC ports within the server's BIOS/UEFI settings.
2. Reference VMware KB for ordering logic: After disabling the ports, consult the Broadcom KB article "How VMware ESXi determines the order in which names are assigned to devices" to understand how ESXi assigns names to the remaining active ports.

By disabling the ports at the BIOS/UEFI level, ESXi will not detect them. The Broadcom KB article provides the necessary information to understand and influence the naming conventions for the active ports, thereby addressing both the desire to ignore specific ports and to achieve consistent vmnic labeling.