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Table Of Contents
Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces
114 VMware, Inc.
IPstoragereferstoanyformofstoragethatusesTCP/IPnetworkcommunicationasitsfoundationand
includesiSCSIandNFSforESXi.Becausethesestoragetypesarenetworkbased,theycanusethesame
VMkernelinterfaceandportgroup.
ThenetworkservicesthattheVMkernelprovides(iSCSI,NFS,andvMotion)
useaTCP/IPstackinthe
VMkernel.TheVMkernelTCP/IPstackisalsoseparatefromtheguestoperatingsystem’snetworkstack.Each
ofthesestacksaccessesvariousnetworksbyattachingtooneormoreportgroupsononeormorevirtual
switches.
Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches
vSpherestandardswitchesallowyoutoconnectvirtualmachinestotheoutsideworld.
Figure 9-1. Networking with vSphere Standard Switches
Figure 91showstherelationshipbetweenthephysicalandvirtualnetworkelements.Thenumbersmatch
thoseinthefigure.
AssociatedwitheachESXihostareoneormoreuplinkadapters(1).Uplinkadaptersrepresentthe
physicalswitchestheESXihostusestoconnecttothenetwork.Youcanmanageuplinkadaptersusingthe
esxcli network nicorvicfg-nicsvCLIcommand.See“ManagingUplinkAdapters”onpage 122.
Eachuplinkadapterisconnectedtoastandardswitch(2).Youcanmanageastandardswitchand
associateitwithuplinkadaptersbyusingtheesxcli network vswitchorvicfg-vswitchvCLI
command.See“SettingUpVirtualSwitchesandAssociatingaSwitchwithaNetworkInterface”on
page 117.
Associatedwiththestandardswitchareportgroups(3).Portgroupisauniqueconceptinthevirtual
environment.Youcanconfigureportgroupstoenforcepoliciesthatprovideenhancednetworking
security,networksegmentation,betterperformance,highavailability,andtrafficmanagement.Youcan
usetheesxcli network vswitch standard portgrouporvicfg-vswitchcommandtoassociate
a
standardswitchwithaportgroup,andtheesxcli network ip interfaceorvicfg-vmkniccommand
toassociateaportgroupwithaVMkernelnetworkinterface.
TheVMkernelTCP/IPnetworkingstacksupportsiSCSI,NFS,andvMotionandhasanassociated
VMkernelnetworkinterface.YouconfigureVMkernelnetworkinterfaceswithesxcli network ip
interfaceorvicfg-vmknic.See“A d d i n g andModifyingVMkernelNetworkInterfaces”onpage 125.
SeparateVMkernelnetworkinterfacesareoftenusedforseparatetasks,forexample,youmightdevote
oneVMkernelNetworkinterfacecardtovMotiononly.VirtualmachinesruntheirownsystemsTCP/IP
stacksandconnecttotheVMkernelattheEthernetlevelthroughvirtualswitches.
physical network adapters
Host1
Host1
Host2
Host2
port
groups
Network
C
VM VM VM VM
VM
vSphere Standard Switch
ABCDE
vSphere Standard Switch
ABCDE
virtual
physical
physical network
1
2
3