6.5.1

to it. The switch learns which hosts are connected to which of its ports and
uses that information to forward traffic to the correct physical machines.
Switches are the core of a physical network. Multiple switches can be
connected together to form larger networks.
vSphere Standard
Switch
It works much like a physical Ethernet switch. It detects which virtual
machines are logically connected to each of its virtual ports and uses that
information to forward traffic to the correct virtual machines. A vSphere
standard switch can be connected to physical switches by using physical
Ethernet adapters, also referred to as uplink adapters, to join virtual
networks with physical networks. This type of connection is similar to
connecting physical switches together to create a larger network. Even
though a vSphere standard switch works much like a physical switch, it
does not have some of the advanced functionality of a physical switch.
Standard Port Group It specifies port configuration options such as bandwidth limitations and
VLAN tagging policies for each member port. Network services connect to
standard switches through port groups. Port groups define how a
connection is made through the switch to the network. Typically, a single
standard switch is associated with one or more port groups.
vSphere Distributed
Switch
It acts as a single switch across all associated hosts in a data center to
provide centralized provisioning, administration, and monitoring of virtual
networks. You configure a vSphere distributed switch on the vCenter Server
system and the configuration is populated across all hosts that are
associated with the switch. This lets virtual machines to maintain consistent
network configuration as they migrate across multiple hosts.
Host Proxy Switch A hidden standard switch that resides on every host that is associated with
a vSphere distributed switch. The host proxy switch replicates the
networking configuration set on the vSphere distributed switch to the
particular host.
Distributed Port A port on a vSphere distributed switch that connects to a host’s VMkernel
or to a virtual machine’s network adapter.
Distributed Port Group A port group associated with a vSphere distributed switch and specifies
port configuration options for each member port. Distributed port groups
define how a connection is made through the vSphere distributed switch to
the network.
NIC Teaming NIC teaming occurs when multiple uplink adapters are associated with a
single switch to form a team. A team can either share the load of traffic
between physical and virtual networks among some or all of its members,
or provide passive failover in the event of a hardware failure or a network
outage.
vSphere Networking
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