Best way to configure an ESXi 4 Host with only 3 NICs ?

[Legacy User]

We just set up an ESXi 4 Host with 3 NICs. It is a standalone server that not connecting to the FC SAN. However, we would like to keep the function to vStorage VM if required.

With only 3 NICs on hand, is there any suggestion on the speed and NIC teaming that we should configure ? Our Network Administrator prefers to give us only 1 x 1 Gbps connection + 2 x 100Mbps.

Your suggestion is sought

Thanks

Message was edited by: TonyJK

[athlon_crazy]

Depend on the load require for the VM, IP storage and number of VMs should reflect the load on your virtual network as well. If I were you :

• Management = 1x vmnic - 100Mbps

• VMNetwork = 2x vmnic - (1Gbps - Primary) + (100Mbps - Secondary)

[AntonVZhbankov]

Since you're not connecting to FC SAN I assume you have either local storage or IP Storage.

In this case dedicated 1 Gbit link for IP storage is recommended. If you can't have dedicated then you have to share Gbit link between IP storage and VMs.

100 MBit NICs cand be used only as:

1) Dedicated management interface without VMotion or IP storage

2) Standby failover links for management and VM Network

You definitely require at least 2 NICs running on Gbit

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Legacy User]

I forget to mention that we only have local disk.

Does Althon's suggestion mean that the NIC teaming works for both VMs & vStorage OR only for VMs ?

Would there be any problem if the speed of teamed NICs are different ?

Thanks again

[athlon_crazy]

It should work for the VM network but for vMotion, still bound to vMotion 1Gbps requirements. I'm not sure for vStorage

http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/vmware-esx-server/esx-nic-teaming/all-pages.html