How to change vmkernel mac-address without reboot?

[vm7user]

Hello,

ESXi 6.7

How to change (to pNIC mac) vmkernel mac-address without reboot?

[SupreetK]

I think recreating the vmkernel port will help here -

VMK0 MAC Change | Favoritevmguy​

Please consider marking this answer as "correct" or "helpful" if you think your questions have been answered.

Cheers,

Supreet

[vm7user]

I do not see mac-address in your link

[SupreetK]

Please check the screenshots in the link. You will notice the change in the MAC address. Do you want to assign a custom MAC?

Cheers,

Supreet

[vm7user]

Please read my first post - i need change to pNIC mac

[SupreetK]

Looks like you just modified your query post :smileywink: There was no mention of pNIC in that before. Now to answer your query, most of the advanced configuration changes will require a reboot. You can either run the command <esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardwareMac> or edit the esx.conf file to manually change the MAC address. However, both will require a reboot.

VMware Knowledge Base

Please consider marking this answer as "correct" or "helpful" if you think your questions have been answered.

Cheers,

Supreet

[vm7user]

I typed in the command esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardwareMac and rebooted the host, but the mac-address has not changed.

How to change mac-address?

[SupreetK]

Running the above command will set the vmk MAC to the active uplink which, might be vmnic0. If you want to assign a custom MAC, you have to edit the esx.conf file to change the below parameter for the respective vmkernel port -

/net/vmkernelnic/child

Cheers,

Supreet

[vm7user]

Running the above command not work.

Yes, i want set vmk mac-address to physical nic mac-address

[SupreetK]

If the above command did not work, you have to manually set the vmkernel MAC address to the pNIC MAC by editing the parameter </net/vmkernelnic/child> from the esx.conf file. Do it only for the required vmkernel NICs.

Cheers,

Supreet