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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 119
Chapter 9 Managing vSphere Networking
IfCDPisenabledonavirtualswitch,ESXiadministratorscanfindoutwhichCiscoswitchportis
connectedtowhichvirtualswitchuplink.CDPisalinklevelprotocolthatsupportsdiscoveryof
CDPawarenetworkhardwareateitherendofadirectconnection.CDPisbitforwardedthrough
switches.
CDPisasimpleadvertisementprotocolwh ichbeaconsinformationabouttheswitchorhostand
someportinformation.
vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --get-cdp vSwitch1
Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches
YoucanaddanddeletevirtualswitcheswithESXCLIandwithvicfg-vswitch.
Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with ESXCLI
Youcanaddanddeletevirtualswitchesusingtheesxcli network vswitchstandard namespace.Specify
oneoftheoptionslistedin“ConnectionOptionsforvCLIHostManagementCommands”onpage 18inplace
of<conn_options>.
Addavirtualswitch.
esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vSwitch42
Youcanspecifythenumberofportgroupswhileaddingthevirtualswitch.Ifyoudonotspecifyavalue,
thedefaultvalueisused.Thesystemwideportcountcannotbegreaterthan4096.
esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vSwitch42 --ports=8
Afteryouhaveaddedavirtualswitch,youcansetswitchattributes(“SettingSwitchAttributeswithesxcli
networkvswitchstandard”onpage 119)andaddoneormoreuplinkadapters(“LinkingandUnlinking
UplinkAdapterswithESXCLI”onpage 124).
Deleteavirtualswitch.
esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard remove --vswitch-name=vSwitch42
YoucannotdeleteavirtualswitchifanyportsontheswitcharestillinusebyVMkernelnetworksor
virtualmachines.Runesxcli network vswitch standard list todeterminewhetheravirtualswitch
isinuse.
Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with vicfg-vswitch
Youcanaddanddeletevirtualswitchesusingthe--add|-aand--delete|-doptions.Specifyoneofthe
optionslistedin“ConnectionOptionsforvCLIHostManagementCommands”onpage 18inplaceof
<conn_options>.
Addavirtualswitch.
vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add vSwitch2
Afteryouhaveaddedavirtualswitch,youcansetswitchattributes(“SettingSwitchAttributeswith
vicfgvswitch”onpage 120)andaddoneormoreuplinkadapters(“LinkingandUnlinkingUplink
Adapterswithvicfgvswitch”onpage 124).
Deleteavirtualswitch.
vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --delete vSwitch1
YoucannotdeleteavirtualswitchifanyportsontheswitcharestillinusebyVMkernelnetworks,virtual
machines,orvswifs.Runvicfg-vswitch --listtodeterminewhetheravirtualswitchisinuse.
Setting Switch Attributes with esxcli network vswitch standard
Youcansetthemaximumtransmissionunit(MTU)andCDPstatusforavirtualswitch.TheCDPstatusshows
whichCiscoswitchportisconnectedtowhichuplink.Specifyoneoftheoptionslistedin“ConnectionOptions
forvCLIHostManagementCommands”onpage 18inplaceof<conn_options>.
SettheMTUforavSwitch.