Standard vs distributed switches
There are two choices for virtual switches that can be used in your VMware environment:
- Standard switch
- Virtual distributed switch (vDS)
The vDS commonly used because of the additional features offered over the standard switch. The deployment example in this guide is configured with a vDS. The basic steps for creating the vDS are provided in the section below.
Create and configure vDS
The deployment example provided in this guide uses vDS. To create and configure the vDS, perform the following steps:
- Open vSphere Client.
- From the Networking tab, right-click the Cluster, select Distributed Switch, and then click New Distributed Switch.
- In the field provided, enter a Name for the new virtual distributed switch and click Next.Note: In this deployment example, the name of the new virtual distributed switch is NSX-VDS.
- Select the ESXi version for Distributed Switch and click Next.
- Select the number of uplinks and name the distributed port group.Note: In this deployment, the Management distributed port group was created with VLAN-ID 1611 in the deployment of the new distributed switch.
- Click Next.
- Click Finish.
Create and configure additional Distributed Port Groups
The deployment example provided in this guide uses additional Distributed Port Groups for ESXi Hosts, ESXi Edge Nodes, and VMs. The following steps were used to create and configure the additional Distributed Port groups:
- Open vSphere Client.
- Under the Networking tab, right-click the Virtual Distributed Switch.Note: In this deployment example, the NSX-VDS Virtual Distributed Switch was created.
- Select Distributed Port Group, and then select New Distributed Port Group.
- Enter the name for the new distributed port group, then click Next.
- Use the information in the table below to configure the settings.Note: If the Management port group is not created, perform the steps necessary to create it.
Distributed port groups | Number of ports | VLAN type | VLAN id | Status |
Management | Four | VLAN | 1611 | Access |
vMotion | Four | VLAN | 1612 | Access |
vSAN | Four | VLAN | 1613 | Access |
Add hosts to vDS
To add and manage hosts and VMs to a vDS, perform the following steps:
- Open the vSphere Client.
- From the Networking tab, right-click Virtual Distributed Switch and select Add and Manage Hosts.
- Select the option Add hosts and click Next.
- Click New hosts, select all the compute hosts, click OK, and then click Next.
- Select the vmnics and assign the uplink to them as shown in the configuration, then click Next.
- Select the VM Kernel and assign port group.Note: The example in this document has the Management port group assigned as Network Port Group.
- Click Next, and then click Finish.