Deployment Guide

51 Dell EMC Networking Virtualization Overlay with BGP EVPN
10.5 vSphere distributed switches
A vSphere Distributed Switch, also referred to as a VDS or a distributed switch, is a virtual switch that
provides network connectivity to hosts and virtual machines. Unlike vSphere standard switches, distributed
switches act as a single switch across multiple hosts in a cluster.
Distributed switches are configured in the vSphere Web Client, and the configuration is populated across all
hosts associated with the switch. A VDS is used for connectivity to the production network in this guide.
Distributed Switches contain two different port groups:
• Uplink port group – an uplink port group maps physical NICs on the hosts (vmnics) to uplinks on the
VDS. Uplink port groups act as trunks and carry all VLANs by default.
• Distributed port group - Distributed port groups define how connections are made through the VDS
to the network. In this guide, one distributed port group is created for the production network.
Note: For consistent network configuration, connect the same vmnic on every host to the same uplink port on
the distributed switch.
10.6 Create a VDS
In this section, a VDS named Mgmt-VDS is created for host access to the production network.
1. In the vSphere Web Client, go to Home > Networking.
2. Right click on Datacenter. Select Distributed switch > New Distributed Switch.
3. Provide a name for the VDS, e.g., Mgmt-VDS. Click Next.
4. On the Select version page, select Distributed switch: 6.6.0 and click Next.
5. On the Edit settings page:
a. Since two NIC ports are used, set the Number of uplinks to 2.
b. Leave Network I/O Control set to Enabled.
c. Uncheck the Create a default port group box.
6. Click Next followed by Finish.
Optionally, allow jumbo frames on the VDS as follows:
1. Right click on Mgmt-VDS and select Settings > Edit Settings.
2. Select Advanced and set MTU (Bytes) to 9000.
3. Click OK.