Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Standard Switches

You can set up your virtual network by performing these tasks.

7

Create or manipulate virtual switches using esxcli network vswitch or vicfg-vswitch. By default, each ESXi host has one virtual switch, vSwitch0. You can create additional virtual switches or manage existing switches. See Setting Up Virtual Switches and Associating a Switch with a Network Interface.

8	(Optional) Make changes to the uplink adapter using esxcli network vswitch standard uplink or vicfg-nics. See Managing Uplink Adapters.

9	(Optional) Use esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup or vicfg-vswitch to add port groups to the virtual switch. See Managing Port Groups with vicfg-vswitch.

10	(Optional) Use esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set or vicfg-vswitch to establish VLANs by associating port groups with VLAN IDs. See Setting the Port Group VLAN ID with vicfg-vswitch.

11	Use esxcli network ip interface or vicfg-vmknic to configure the VMkernel network interfaces. See Adding and Modifying VMkernel Network Interfaces.

Setting Up Virtual Switches and Associating a Switch with a Network Interface

A virtual switch models a physical Ethernet switch. You can manage virtual switches and port groups by using the vSphere Web Client (see the vSphere Networking documentation) or by using vSphere CLI commands.

You can create a maximum of 127 virtual switches on a single ESXi host. By default, each ESXi host has a single virtual switch called vSwitch0. By default, a virtual switch has 56 logical ports. See the Configuration Maximums document on the vSphere documentation main page for details. Ports connect to the virtual machines and the ESXi physical network adapters.

■	You can connect one virtual machine network adapter to each port by using the vSphere Web Client UI.

■	You can connect the uplink adapter to the virtual switches by using vicfg-vswitch or esxcli network vswitch standard uplink. See Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with vicfg-vswitch.

When two or more virtual machines are connected to the same virtual switch, network traffic between them is routed locally. If an uplink adapter is attached to the virtual switch, each virtual machine can access the external network that the adapter is connected to.

This section discusses working in a standard switch environment. See Networking Using vSphere Distributed Switches for information about distributed switch environments.

When working with virtual switches and port groups, perform the following tasks:

1	Find out which virtual switches are available and (optionally) what the associated MTU and CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) settings are. See Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with ESXCLI and Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with vicfg-vswitch.

2	Add a virtual switch. See Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with ESXCLI and Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with vicfg-vswitch.

3	For a newly added switch, perform these tasks:

a	Add a port group. See Managing Port Groups with ESXCLI and Managing Port Groups with vicfg-vswitch.

b	(Optional) Set the port group VLAN ID. See Setting the Port Group VLAN ID with ESXCLI and Setting the Port Group VLAN ID with vicfg-vswitch.

c	Add an uplink adapter. See Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI and Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with vicfg-vswitch.

d	(Optional) Change the MTU or CDP settings. See Setting Switch Attributes with esxcli network vswitch standard and Setting Switch Attributes with vicfg-vswitch.

Retrieving Information About Virtual Switches

You can retrieve information about virtual switches by using ESXCLI or vicfg-vswitch. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with ESXCLI

You can retrieve information about virtual switches by using esxcli network vswitch commands.

■	List all virtual switches and associated port groups.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard list

The command prints information about the virtual switch, which might include its name, number of ports, MTU, port groups, and other information. The output includes information about CDP settings for the virtual switch. The precise information depends on the target system. The default port groups are Management Network and VM Network.

■	List the network policy settings (security policy, traffic shaping policy, and failover policy) for the virtual switch. The following commands are supported.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy failover get

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy security get

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy shaping get

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with vicfg-vswitch

You can retrieve information about virtual switches by using the vcifg-vswitch command. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Check whether vSwitch1 exists.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -c vSwitch1

■	List all virtual switches and associated port groups.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -l

The command prints information about the virtual switch, which might include its name, number of ports, MTU, port groups, and other information. The default port groups are Management Network and VM Network.

■	Retrieve the current CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) setting for this virtual switch.

If CDP is enabled on a virtual switch, ESXi administrators can find out which Cisco switch port is connected to which virtual switch uplink. CDP is a link-level protocol that supports discovery of CDP-aware network hardware at either end of a direct connection. CDP is bit forwarded through switches. CDP is a simple advertisement protocol which beacons information about the switch or host and some port information.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --get-cdp vSwitch1

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches

You can add and delete virtual switches with ESXCLI and with vicfg-vswitch.

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with ESXCLI

You can add and delete virtual switches using the esxcli network vswitch standard namespace. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Add a virtual switch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vSwitch42

You can specify the number of port groups while adding the virtual switch. If you do not specify a value, the default value is used. The system-wide port count cannot be greater than 4096.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vSwitch42 --ports=8

After you have added a virtual switch, you can set switch attributes (Setting Switch Attributes with esxcli network vswitch standard) and add one or more uplink adapters (Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI).

■	Delete a virtual switch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard remove --vswitch-name=vSwitch42

You cannot delete a virtual switch if any ports on the switch are still in use by VMkernel networks or virtual machines. Run esxcli network vswitch standard list to determine whether a virtual switch is in use.

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with vicfg-vswitch

You can add and delete virtual switches using the --add|-a and --delete|-d options. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Add a virtual switch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> - -add vSwitch2

After you have added a virtual switch, you can set switch attributes (Setting Switch Attributes with vicfg-vswitch) and add one or more uplink adapters (Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with vicfg-vswitch).

■	Delete a virtual switch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --delete vSwitch1

You cannot delete a virtual switch if any ports on the switch are still in use by VMkernel networks, virtual machines, or vswifs. Run vicfg-vswitch --list to determine whether a virtual switch is in use.

Setting Switch Attributes with esxcli network vswitch standard

You can set the maximum transmission unit (MTU) and CDP status for a virtual switch. The CDP status shows which Cisco switch port is connected to which uplink. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Set the MTU for a vSwitch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard set --mtu=9000 --vswitch-name=vSwitch1

The MTU is the size, in bytes, of the largest protocol data unit the switch can process. When you set this option, it affects all uplinks assigned to the virtual switch.

■	Set the CDP value for a vSwitch. You can set status to down, listen, advertise, or both.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard set --cdp-status=listen --vswitch-name=vSwitch1

Setting Switch Attributes with vicfg-vswitch

You can set the maximum transmission unit (MTU) and CDP status for a virtual switch. The CDP status shows which Cisco switch port is connected to which uplink. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Set the MTU for a vSwitch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -m 9000 vSwitch1

The MTU is the size (in bytes) of the largest protocol data unit the switch can process. When you set this option, it affects all uplinks assigned to the virtual switch.

■	Set the CDP value for a vSwitch. You can set status to down, listen, advertise, or both.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --set-cdp ‘listen’

Checking, Adding, and Removing Port Groups

You can check, add, and remove port groups with ESXCLI and with vicfg-vswitch.

Managing Port Groups with ESXCLI

Network services connect to vSwitches through port groups. A port group allows you to group traffic and specify configuration options such as bandwidth limitations and VLAN tagging policies for each port in the port group. A virtual switch must have one port group assigned to it. You can assign additional port groups.

You can use esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup to check, add, and remove port groups. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	List port groups currently associated with a virtual switch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup list

Lists the port group name, associated virtual switch, active clients, and VLAN ID.

■	Add a port group.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup add --portgroup-name=<name> --vswitch-name=vSwitch1

■	Delete one of the existing port groups.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup remove --portgroup-name=<name> --vswitch-name=vSwitch1

Managing Port Groups with vicfg-vswitch

Network services connect to virtual switches through port groups. A port group allows you to group traffic and specify configuration options such as bandwidth limitations and VLAN tagging policies for each port in the port group. A virtual switch must have one port group assigned to it. You can assign additional port groups. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

You can use vicfg-vswitch to check, add, and remove port groups.

■	Check whether port groups are currently associated with a virtual switch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> - -check-pg <port_group> vSwitch1

The command returns 0 if the specified port group is associated with the virtual switch, and returns 1 otherwise. Use vicfg-vswitch --list to list all port groups.

■	Add a port group.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add-pg <port_group_name> vSwitch1

■	Delete one of the existing port groups.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --del-pg <port_group_name> vSwitch1

Managing Uplinks and Port Groups

You can manage uplinks and port groups with ESXCLI and with vicfg-vswitch.

Connecting and Disconnecting Uplink Adapters and Port Groups with ESXCLI

If your setup includes one or more port groups, you can associate each port group with one or more uplink adapters (and remove the association). This functionality allows you to filter traffic from a port group to a specific uplink, even if the virtual switch is connected with multiple uplinks. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Connect a port group with an uplink adapter.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup policy failover set --active-uplinks=vmnic1,vmnic6,vmnic7

This command fails silently if the uplink adapter does not exist.

■	Make some of the adapters standby instead of active.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup policy failover set --standby-uplinks=vmnic1,vmnic6,vmnic7

Connecting and Disconnecting Uplinks and Port Groups with vicfg-vswitch

If your setup includes one or more port groups, you can associate each port group with one or more uplink adapters (and remove the association). This functionality allows you to filter traffic from a port group to a specific uplink, even if the virtual switch is connected with multiple uplinks. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

■	Connect a port group with an uplink adapter.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> - -add-pg-uplink <adapter_name> - -pg <port_group> <vswitch_name>

This command fails silently if the uplink adapter does not exist.

■	Remove a port group from an uplink adapter.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> - -del-pg-uplink <adapter_name> - -pg <port_group> <vswitch_name>

Setting the Port Group VLAN ID

You can set the port group VLAN ID with ESXCLI and with vicfg-vswitch.

Setting the Port Group VLAN ID with ESXCLI

VLANs allow you to further segment a single physical LAN segment so that groups of ports are isolated as if they were on physically different segments. The standard is IEEE 802.1Q.

A VLAN ID restricts port group traffic to a logical Ethernet segment within the physical network.

■	Set the VLAN ID to 4095 to allow a port group to reach port groups located on other VLAN.

■	Set the VLAN ID to 0 to disable the VLAN for this port group.

If you use VLAN IDs, you must change the port group labels and VLAN IDs together so that the labels properly represent connectivity. VLAN IDs are optional.

You can use the following commands for VLAN management:

■	Allow port groups to reach port groups located on other VLANs.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup set -p <pg_name> --vlan-id 4095

Call the command multiple times to allow all ports to reach port groups located on other VLANs.

■	Disable VLAN for port group g42

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup set --vlan-id 0 -p <pg_name>

Setting the Port Group VLAN ID with vicfg-vswitch

VLANs allow you to further segment a single physical LAN segment so that groups of ports are isolated as if they were on physically different segments. The standard is IEEE 802.1Q.

A VLAN ID restricts port group traffic to a logical Ethernet segment within the physical network.

■	Set the VLAN ID to 4095 to allow a port group to reach port groups located on other VLAN.

■	Set the VLAN ID to 0 to disable the VLAN for this port group.

If you use VLAN IDs, you must change the port group labels and VLAN IDs together so that the labels properly represent connectivity. VLAN IDs are optional.

You can use the following commands for VLAN management:

■	Allow all port groups to reach port groups located on other VLANs.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --vlan 4095 --pg “ALL” vSwitch2

■	Disable VLAN for port group g42.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --vlan 0 --pg g42 vSwitch2

Run vicfg-vswitch -l to retrieve information about VLAN IDs currently associated with the virtual switches in the network.

Run esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup list to list all port groups and associated VLAN IDs.

Managing Uplink Adapters

You can manage uplink adapters, which represent the physical NICs that connect the ESXi host to the network by using the esxcli network nics or the vicfg-nics command. You can also use esxcli network vswitch and esxcfg-vswitch to link and unlink the uplink.

You can use vicfg-nics to list information and to specify speed and duplex setting for the uplink.

You can use esxcli network nic to list all uplinks, to list information, to set attributes, and to bring a specified uplink down or up.

Managing Uplink Adapters with esxcli network nic

The following example workflow lists all uplink adapters, lists properties for one uplink adapter, changes the uplink’s speed and duplex settings, and brings the uplink down and back up. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

To manipulate uplink adapter setup

1	List all uplinks and information about each device.

esxcli <conn_options> network nic list

You can narrow down the information displayed by using esxcli network nic get --nic-name=<nic>.

2	(Optional) Bring down one of the uplink adapters.

esxcli <conn_options> network nic down --nic-name=vmnic0

3	Change uplink adapter settings.

esxcli <conn_options> network nic set <option>

Specify one of the following options.

-a|--auto	Set the speed and duplex settings to autonegotiate.
-D|--duplex=<str>	Duplex to set this NIC to. Acceptable values are full and half.
-P | --phy-address	Set the MAC address of the device
-l|--message-level=<long>	Set the driver message level. Message levels and what they imply differ per driver.
-n|--nic-name=<str>	Name of the NIC to configured. Must be one of the cards listed in the nic list command (required).
-p|--port=<str>	Selects the device port. The following device ports are available. ■ aui – Select aui as the device port ■ bnc – Select bnc as the device port ■ fibre – Select mii as the device port ■ mii – Select mii as the device port ■ tp – Select tp as the device port
-S|--speed=<long>	Speed to set this NIC to. Acceptable values are 10, 100, 1000, and 10000.
-t|--transceiver-type=<str>	Select transceiver type. The following transceiver types are available. ■ external – Set the transceiver type to external ■ internal – Set the transceiver type to internal
-w|--wake-on-lan=<str>	Set Wake-on-LAN options. Not all devices support this option. The option value is a string of characters specifying which options to enable. ■ p – Wake on phy activity ■ u – Wake on unicast messages ■ m – Wake on multicast messages ■ b – Wake on broadcast messages ■ a – Wake on ARP ■ g – Wake on MagicPacket ■ s – Enable SecureOn password for MagicPacket

4	(Optional) Bring the uplink adapter back up.

esxcli <conn_options> network nic up --nic-name=vmnic0

Specifying Multiple Uplinks with ESXCLI

At any time, one port group NIC array and a corresponding set of active uplinks exist. When you change the active uplinks, you also change the standby uplinks and the number of active uplinks.

The following example illustrates how active and standby uplinks are set.

1	The portgroup nic array is [vmnic1, vmnic0, vmnic3, vmnic5, vmnic6, vmnic7] and active-uplinks is set to three uplinks (vmnic1, vmnic0, vmnic3). The other uplinks are standby uplinks.

2	You set the active uplinks to a new set [vmnic3, vmnic5].

3	The new uplinks override the old set. The NIC array changes to [vmnic3, vmnic5, vmnic6, vmnic7]. vmnic0 and vmnic1 are removed from the NIC array and max-active becomes 2.

If you want to keep vmnic0 and vmnic1 in the array, you can make those NICs standby uplinks in the command that changes the active uplinks.

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup policy failover set -p testPortgroup --active-uplinks vmnic3,vmnic5 --standby-uplinks vmnic1,vmnic0,vmnic6,vmnic7

Managing Uplink Adapters with vicfg-nics

The following example workflow lists an uplink adapter’s properties, changes the duplex and speed, and sets the uplink to autonegotiate its speed and duplex settings. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

To manipulate uplink adapter setup

1	List settings.

vicfg-nics <conn_options> -l

Lists the uplinks in the system, their current and configured speed, and their duplex setting.

2	Set the settings for vmnic0 to full and the speed to 100.

vicfg-nics <conn_options> -d full -s 100 vmnic0

3	Set vmnic2 to autonegotiate its speed and duplex settings.

vicfg-nics <conn_options> -a vmnic2

Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI

When you create a virtual switch using esxcli network vswitch standard add, all traffic on that virtual switch is initially confined to that virtual switch. All virtual machines connected to the virtual switch can talk to each other, but the virtual machines cannot connect to the network or to virtual machines on other hosts. A virtual machine also cannot connect to virtual machines connected to a different virtual switch on the same host.

Having a virtual switch that is not connected to the network might make sense if you want a group of virtual machines to be able to communicate with each other, but not with other hosts or with virtual machines on other hosts. In most cases, you set up the virtual switch to transfer data to external networks by attaching one or more uplink adapters to the virtual switch.

You can use the following commands to list, add, and remove uplink adapters. When you link using ESXCLI, the physical NIC is added as a standby adapter by default. You can then modify the teaming policy to make the physical NIC active by running the command esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set.

■	List uplink adapters.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard list

The uplink adapters are returned in the Uplink item.

■	Add a new uplink adapter to a virtual switch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic15 vswitch-name=vSwitch0

■	Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch.

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard uplink remove --uplink-name=vmnic15 vswitch-name=vSwitch0

Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with vicfg-vswitch

When you create a virtual switch using vicfg-vswitch --add, all traffic on that virtual switch is initially confined to that virtual switch. All virtual machines connected to the virtual switch can talk to each other, but the virtual machines cannot connect to the network or to virtual machines on other hosts. A virtual machine also cannot connect to virtual machines connected to a different virtual switch on the same host.

Having a virtual switch that is not connected to the network might make sense if you want a group of virtual machines to be able to communicate with each other, but not with other hosts or with virtual machines on other hosts. In most cases, you set up the virtual switch to transfer data to external networks by attaching one or more uplink adapters to the virtual switch.

You can use the following commands to add and remove uplink adapters:

■	Add a new uplink adapter to a virtual switch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --link vmnic15 vSwitch0

■	Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch.

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --unlink vmnic15 vSwitch0

Adding and Modifying VMkernel Network Interfaces

VMkernel network interfaces are used primarily for management traffic, which can include vMotion, IP Storage, and other management traffic on the ESXi system. You can also bind a newly created VMkernel network interface for use by software and dependent hardware iSCSI by using the esxcli iscsi commands.

The VMkernel network interface is separate from the virtual machine network. The guest operating system and application programs communicate with a VMkernel network interface through a commonly available device driver or a VMware device driver optimized for the virtual environment. In either case, communication in the guest operating system occurs as it would with a physical device. Virtual machines can also communicate with a VMkernel network interface if both use the same virtual switch.

Each VMkernel network interface has its own MAC address and one or more IP addresses, and responds to the standard Ethernet protocol as would a physical NIC. The VMkernel network interface is created with TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO) enabled.

You can manage VMkernel NICs with ESXCLI (see Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI) and with vicfg-vmknic (see Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with vicfg-vmknic).

Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI

You can configure the VMkernel network interface for IPv4 (see To add and configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface for IPv4) or for IPv6 (see To add and configure a VMkernel Network Interface for IPv6) with ESXCLI. In contrast to vicfg-vmknic, ESXCLI does not support enabling vMotion.

You can add and configure an IPv4 VMkernel NIC with ESXCLI. Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

To add and configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface for IPv4

1	Add a new VMkernel network interface.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface add --interface-name=vmk<x> --portgroup-name=<my_portgroup>

You can specify the MTU setting after you have added the network interface by using esxcli network ip interface set --mtu.

2	Configure the interface as an IPv4 interface. You must specify the IP address using - -ip, the netmask, and the name. For the following examples, assume that VMSF-VMK-363 is a port group to which you want to add a VMkernel network interface.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv4 set - -ipv4=<ip_address> --netmask=255.255.255.0 --interface-name=vmk<X>

You can set the address as follows.

■	<X.X.X.X>– Static IPv4 address.

■	DHCP – Use IPv4 DHCP.

The VMkernel supports DHCP only for ESXi 4.0 and later.

When the command finishes successfully, the newly added VMkernel network interface is enabled.

3	List information about all VMkernel network interfaces on the system.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface list

The command displays the network information, port group, MTU, and current state for each virtual network adapter in the system.

You can add and configure an IPv6 VMkernel NIC with ESXCLI.

To add and configure a VMkernel Network Interface for IPv6

1	Run esxcli network ip interface add to add a new VMkernel network interface.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface add --interface-name=vmk<x> --portgroup-name=<my_portgroup>

You can specify the MTU setting after you have added the network interface by using esxcli network ip interface set --mtu.

When the command finishes successfully, the newly added VMkernel network interface is enabled.

2	Run esxcli network ip interface ipv6 address add to configure the interface as an IPv6 interface. You must specify the IP address using - -ip and the name. For the following examples, assume that VMSF-VMK-363 is a port group to which you want to add a VMkernel network interface.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv6 address add - -ip=<X:X:X::/X> --interface-name=vmk<X>

You can set the address as follows.

■	<X:X:X::/X>: Static IPv6 address

■	--enable-dhcpv6: Enables DHCPv6 on this interface and attempts to acquire an IPv6 address from the network.

■	--enable-router-adv: Use the IPv6 address advertised by the router. The address is added when the router sends the next router advert.

The VMkernel supports DHCP only for ESXi 4.0 and later.

When the command completes successfully, the newly added VMkernel network interface is enabled.

3	List information about all VMkernel network interfaces on the system.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface list

The list contains the network information, port group, MTU, and current state for each VMkernel Network Interface on the system.

4	You can later remove the IPv6 address and disable IPv6.

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv6 address remove --interface-name=<VMK_NIC> --ipv6=<ipv6_addr>

esxcli <conn_options> network ip set --ipv6-enabled=false

Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with vicfg-vmknic

You can configure the VMkernel network interface for IPv4 (see To add and configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic) or for IPv6 (see To add and configure an IPv6 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic). Specify one of the options listed in Connection Options in place of <conn_options>.

To add and configure an IPv4 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic

1	Run vicfg-vmknic --add to add a VMkernel network interface.

You must specify the IP address by using - -ip, the netmask, and the name. For the following examples, assume that VMSF-VMK-363 is a port group to which you want to add a VMkernel network interface.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --add - -ip <ip_address> -n 255.255.255.0 VMSF-VMK-363

You can specify the MTU setting when adding a VMkernel network interface. You cannot change that setting at a later time.

When the command completes successfully, the newly added VMkernel network interface is enabled.

2	Change the IP address as needed.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --ip <address> VMSF-VMK-363

For IPv4, choose one of the following formats:

■	<X.X.X.X>– Static IPv4 address.

■	DHCP – Use IPv4 DHCP.

The VMkernel supports DHCP only for ESXi 4.0 and later.

3	(Optional) Enable vMotion.

By default, vMotion is disabled.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --enable-vmotion VMSF-VMK-363

You can later use --disable-vmotion to disable vMotion for this VMkernel network interface.

4	List information about all VMkernel network interfaces on the system.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --list

The command displays the network information, port group, MTU, and current state for each virtual network adapter in the system.

To add and configure an IPv6 VMkernel Network Interface with vicfg-vmknic

1	Run vicfg-vmknic --add to add a VMkernel network interface.

You must specify the IP address by using - -ip, the netmask, and the port group name. For the following examples, assume that VMSF-VMK-363 is a port group to which you want to add a VMkernel network interface.

You can specify the MTU setting when you add a VMkernel network interface. You cannot change that setting at a later time.

When the command completes successfully, the newly added VMkernel network interface is enabled.

2	Enable IPv6.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --enable-ipv6 true VMSF-VMK-363

3	Supply an IPv6 address.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> - -ip <ip_address> VMSF-VMK-363

For IPv6, the IP address can have one of the following formats:

■	<X:X:X::/X> – Static IPv6 address

■	DHCPV6 – Use DHCP IPv6 address. The VMkernel supports DHCP only for ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later.

■	AUTOCONF – Use the IPv6 address advertised by the router. If you create a VMkernel network interface with AUTOCONF, an address is assigned immediately. If you add AUTOCONF to an existing vmknic, the address is added when the router sends the next router advert.

4	(Optional) Enable vMotion.

By default, vMotion is disabled.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --enable-vmotion VMSF-VMK-363

You can later use --disable-vmotion to disable vMotion again.

5	List information about all VMkernel network interfaces on the system.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --list

The list contains the network information, port group, MTU, and current state for each virtual network adapter in the system.

6	You can later remove the IPv6 address and disable IPv6.

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> - -unset-ip <X:X:X::/X> VMSF-VMK-363

vicfg-vmknic <conn_options> --enable-ipv6 false VMSF-VMK-363