6.5.1

Table Of Contents
n
Creates all standard switch instances, along with port groups. It selects uplinks based on policy. If the
policy is based on the VLAN ID, there is a probing process to gather relevant information.
n
For VMkernel network adapters connected to the standard switch, it creates VMkernel network
adapters and connects them to port groups.
n
For each VMkernel network adapter connected to a distributed switch, it creates a temporary
standard switch (as needed) with uplinks bound to the VMkernel network adapter. It creates a
temporary port group with VLAN and teaming policies based on recorded information. Specifically, IP
hash is used if Etherchannel was used in the distributed switch.
n
Configures all VMkernel network adapter settings (assigns address, gateway, MTU, and so forth).
Basic connectivity is functioning, and the networking setup is complete if there is no distributed switch
present.
If there is a distributed switch present, the system stays in maintenance mode until distributed switch
remediation is complete. No virtual machines are started at this time. Because distributed switches
requires vCenter Server, the boot process continues until vCenter Server connectivity is established, and
vCenter Server notices that the host should be part of a distributed switch. It issues a distributed switch
host join, creating a distributed switch proxy standard switch on the host, selects appropriate uplinks, and
migrates the vmknic from the standard switch to the distributed switch. When this operation is complete, it
deletes the temporary standard switch and port groups.
At the end of the remediation process, the ESXi host is taken out of maintenance mode, and HA or DRS
can start virtual machines on the host.
In the absence of a host profile, a temporary standard switch is created with “default networking” logic,
which creates a management network switch (with no VLAN tag) whose uplink corresponds to the PXE
booting vNIC. A vmknic is created on the management network port group with the same MAC address
as the PXE booting vNIC. This logic was previously used for PXE booting. If there is a host profile, but the
networking host profile is disabled or fatally incomplete, vCenter Server falls back to default networking so
that the ESXi host can be managed remotely. This triggers a compliance failure, so vCenter Server then
initiates recovery actions.
vSphere Networking
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