6.0

Port Mirroring Version Compatibility
Certain port mirroring functionality in vSphere 5.1 and later depends on which version of vCenter Server,
vSphere distributed switch, and host you use, and how you use these aspects of vSphere together.
Table 23‑1. Port mirroring compatibility
vCenter Server version
vSphere distributed
switch version Host version
vSphere 5.1 port mirroring
functionality
vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.1 port mirroring is
available for use. Features
for vSphere 5.0 and earlier
port mirroring are not
available.
vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.0 and earlier vSphere 5.0 and earlier hosts
can be added to vSphere 5.1
vCenter Server, but cannot
be added to distributed
switches version 5.1 and
later.
vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.0 vSphere 5.0 vSpherevCenter Server
version 5.1 and later can
configure port mirroring on
a vSphere 5.0 distributed
switch.
vSphere 5.1 and later vSphere 5.0 vSphere 5.1 and later Hosts running vSphere 5.1
can be added to vSphere 5.0
distributed switches and
support vSphere 5.0 port
mirroring.
vSphere 5.1 and later Pre-vSphere 5.0 vSphere 5.5 and earlier Port mirroring is not
supported.
vSphere 5.0 and earlier vSphere 5.0 and earlier vSphere 5.1 A vSphere 5.1 host cannot be
added to vCenter Server 5.0
and earlier.
If you use a host profile with port mirroring settings, the host profile must be adapted to the new version of
port mirroring in vSphere 5.1 and later.
Port Mirroring Interoperability
There are some interoperability issues to consider when using vSphere 5.1 port mirroring with other
features of vSphere.
vMotion
vMotion functions differently depending on which vSphere 5.1 port mirroring session type you select.
During vMotion, a mirroring path could be temporarily invalid, but is restored when vMotion completes.
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