6.5

Table Of Contents
Virtual switches allow your ESXi host to migrate virtual machines with VMware vMotion and to use IP
storage through VMkernel network interfaces.
n
Using vMotion, you can migrate running virtual machines with no downtime. You can enable vMotion
with vicfg-vmknic --enable-vmotion. You cannot enable vMotion with ESXCLI.
n
IP storage refers to any form of storage that uses TCP/IP network communication as its foundation and
includes iSCSI and NFS for ESXi. Because these storage types are network based, they can use the same
VMkernel interface and port group.
The network services that the VMkernel provides (iSCSI, NFS, and vMotion) use a TCP/IP stack in the
VMkernel. The VMkernel TCP/IP stack is also separate from the guest operating system's network stack.
Each of these stacks accesses various networks by aaching to one or more port groups on one or more
virtual switches.
Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches
vSphere standard switches allow you to connect virtual machines to the outside world.
Figure 91. Networking with vSphere Standard Switches
Physical Network
vSphere
Standart Switch
B C D E
virtual
physical
physical network adapters
port
groups
Network
C
Host1
Host1
Host2
Host2
A
1
3
2
vSphere
Standart Switch
B C D EA
Figure 9-1 shows the relationship between the physical and virtual network elements. The numbers match
those in the gure.
n
Associated with each ESXi host are one or more uplink adapters (1). Uplink adapters represent the
physical switches the ESXi host uses to connect to the network. You can manage uplink adapters by
using the esxcli network nic or vicfg-nics vCLI command. See “Managing Uplink Adapters,” on
page 142.
n
Each uplink adapter is connected to a standard switch (2). You can manage a standard switch and
associate it with uplink adapters by using the esxcli network vswitch or vicfg-vswitch vCLI
command. See “Seing Up Virtual Switches and Associating a Switch with a Network Interface,” on
page 136.
vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples
132 VMware, Inc.