6.7

n
Tasks for Managing Host Networking on a vSphere Distributed Switch
You can add new hosts to a vSphere Distributed Switch, connect network adapters to the switch,
and remove hosts from the switch. In a production environment, you might need to keep the network
connectivity up for virtual machines and VMkernel services while you manage host networking on
the distributed switch.
n
Add Hosts to a vSphere Distributed Switch
To manage the networking of your vSphere environment by using a vSphere Distributed Switch, you
must associate hosts with the switch. You connect the physical NICs, VMkernel adapters, and virtual
machine network adapters of the hosts to the distributed switch.
n
Configure Physical Network Adapters on a vSphere Distributed Switch
For hosts that are associated with a distributed switch, you can assign physical NICs to uplinks on
the switch. You can configure physical NICs on the distributed switch for multiple hosts at a time.
n
Migrate VMkernel Adapters to a vSphere Distributed Switch
Migrate VMkernel adapters to a distributed switch if you want to handle the traffic for VMkernel
services by using only this switch and you no longer need the adapters on other standard or
distributed switches.
n
Create a VMkernel Adapter on a vSphere Distributed Switch
Create a VMkernel adapter on hosts associated with a distributed switch to provide network
connectivity to the hosts and to handle the traffic for vSphere vMotion, IP storage, Fault Tolerance
logging, and vSAN. You can create VMkernel adapters on multiple hosts simultaneously by using the
Add and Manage Hosts wizard.
n
Migrate Virtual Machine Networking to the vSphere Distributed Switch
To manage virtual machine networking by using a distributed switch, migrate virtual machine
network adapters to labeled networks on the switch.
n
Use a Host as a Template to Create a Uniform Networking Configuration on a vSphere Distributed
Switch
If you plan to have hosts with a uniform networking configuration, you can select a host as a
template and apply its configuration for physical NICs and VMkernel adapters to other hosts on the
distributed switch.
n
Remove Hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch
Remove hosts from a vSphere distributed switch if you have configured a different switch for the
hosts.
Tasks for Managing Host Networking on a vSphere Distributed
Switch
You can add new hosts to a vSphere Distributed Switch, connect network adapters to the switch, and
remove hosts from the switch. In a production environment, you might need to keep the network
connectivity up for virtual machines and VMkernel services while you manage host networking on the
distributed switch.
vSphere Networking
VMware, Inc. 34