How to manually migrate a NIC (vmnic) from a Standard Switch to a Distributed Switch for a single ESXi host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the process of how to manually migrate a vmnic off a Standard Switch onto a Distributed Switch (vDS) for a singular ESXi host. 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 

Resolution

Important things to note before proceeding:

1. Ensure the vmnic (NIC) being moved off the Standard Switch is not in use by anything (VMs or vmkernel adapters) before removing.
2. This process is only for a singular host, so any vmnic movement here will only reflect on the host that the process is performed on. 
3. If the NIC is going to be moved into an LACP configuration (with a LAG) on the vDS, please refer to Configuring a LAG on a vSphere Distributed Switch Port Group when using LACP.
4. If there is vSAN in the environment, and the vmkernel adapters and vmnics are being migrated from the Standard Switch to the vDS, please refer to Migrating from Standard to Distributed vSwitch.

Migrating NICs (vmnic) from a Standard Switch to a Distributed Switch 

1. Log into the vCenter using administrator credentials.
2. Locate the ESXi host where the NIC migration is going to take place and select it.
3. Select the Configure  tab.
4. Select Virtual Switches under the Networking section.
5. Click the small carrot on the left of the Standard Switches name to the Standard Switch. 
6. Select Manage Physical Adapters.
7. Click the vmnic that is no longer needed on the Standard Switch, and move it to Unclaimed adapters.
8. Click the small carrot to the left of the distributed switches name that the vmnic is migrating to, to expand the vDS information.
9. Click Manage Physical Adapters.
10. Locate the vmnic and select which uplink the vmnic will be assigned to by clicking the dropdown on the fair right hand side of the vmnic.
11. Click OK to save the changes.
12. Verify the vmnic is now on the vDS for the ESXi host by expanding the uplink profiles on the right hand side of the vDS topology from the host view.