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machine connected 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 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. A port group specifies port configuration options such as bandwidth
limitations and VLAN tagging policies for each member port.
vSphere Distributed
Switch
A vSphere distributed switch 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 propagated to
all hosts that are associated with the switch. This lets virtual machines
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 that 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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