Specifications

Administration Guide
324 VMware, Inc.
This!basic!failure!detection!mode!passively!monitors!an!adapter!for!loss!of!physical!
connection!to!an!external!switch.!You!can!configure! ESX!Server!to!actively!search!for!
network!failures!using!beacon!monitoring.
Using Beacon Monitoring
The!beacon!monitoring!feature!broadcasts!beacon!packets!on!the!external!network!
linked!to!the!server!to!detect!distributed!connection!failures.!ESX!Server!issues!beacon!
packets!from!one!adapter!addressed!to!other!adapters!assigned!to!a!virtual!switch.!By!
monitoring!beacon!reception,!the!server!can!determine!the!state!of!connections!in!a
!
multi‐point!network!route.!You!can!configure!beacon!monitoring!for!each!virtual!
switch!and!for!the!entire!server.
Beacon!monitoring!is!used!in!configurations!where!the!multiple!adapters!assigned!to!a!
virtual!switch!are!connected!to!more!than!one!external!switch.!Physical!link!monitoring!
indicates!only!whether!an!adapter!is!communicating
!with!one!external!switch.!Beacon!
failures!can!detect!connection!failures!between!external!switches!or!routing!errors!
among!switches!in!a!distributed!network!domain.!
ESX!Server!uses!beacon!monitoring!as!a!variable!indicator!of!network!connection!
failure.!The!server!indicates!a!connection!loss!after!it!fails!to!receive!a!set!number!
of!
broadcast!beacons!in!succession.!Only!when!the!number!of!failed!beacons!exceeds!the!
failure!threshold!will!the!server!identify!a!link!as!disconnected!and!switch!to!another!
adapter.
By!default,!the!beacon!failure!threshold!is!set!to!zero!for!each!virtual!switch.!You!can!
enable!beacon!monitoring!by!setting!the!
failure!threshold!to!two!or!greater.
ESX!Server!also!lets!you!determine!the!frequency!with!which!it!issues!beacons.!The!rate!
at!which!the!server!broadcasts!beacons,!in!conjunction!with!the!failure!threshold,!
determines!the!total!monitoring!interval!before!the!server!identifies!a!link!as!isolated:
Beacon!Interval!(in!seconds)!X!Beacon
!Failure!Threshold!=!Total!Beacon!Failure!
Interval
You!set!the!failure!threshold!for!an!individual!switch!with!the!
switch_failover_threshold!option.
To set the failure threshold for bond1 to 2 beacons
1Log!into!the!Service!Console!as!root.
2Edit!/etc/vmware/hwconfig.
3Set!the!beacon!failure!threshold!for!bond1:
nicteam.bond1.switch_failover_threshold = “2”