Direct Connect ESXi Servers

[almuller3]

Hello,

I am trying to directly connect 4 ESXi 5.1 servers to each other via 10GB nics. This is to get 10GB networking without having to pay for a 10GB switch which are spendy. I am able to get network connectivity from serverA to serverB but not serverB to serverC.  I have created a basic vswitch called 10gb on all hosts and directly connected serverA to serverB, serverB to serverC, serverC to serverD and serverD to serverA.

Not sure if this is even possible--hope so.

I am using the Intel x540 Dual port if it matters.

Thanks.

[jdptechnc]

You could probably get something like this to work, but don't expect it to be supported.

Logically, whichever portgroup server B's management vmk is using needs to communicate with server C's management vmk.  The vmnic uplink on server B that connects to server C probably needs to be the only active uplink in that portgroup (check your portgroup policies).  And vice versa for the vmnic on server C that connects to server B.

[jdptechnc]

Also, can you tell us a little more about how you're going to use the four hosts?  How do you plan to use the 10Gb links?  Is this mainly for vMotion?  You may find that your network utliization is not going to justify such a convoluted configuration, and just using a gig switch would offer the same performance.