replace network card on vsphere

[mbannout]

Hello,

I have a customer that needs to add new 10 GB network cards on their ESXi 7 hosts to migrate from the current 1 GB network cards.

I they make this change, do they need to change all the network adapters configured on the VMs and replace them with a new one or will VMs migrate to the new pCards seamlessly?

VMs adapters will need to be 10GB naturally instead of the current 1GB.

They have around 150 VMs running on the setup and changing the network adapters manually might be a reason to cancel the upgrade.

[Scott Vessey]

The new NIC ports will need to be added to the vSwitches used by the VM Port Groups.

No change needed at the VM level, just that host configuration.

[mbannout]

thanks for the reply, so to confirm the 1GB network adapter on the VMs will be automatically replaced by a new 10GB adapter without loosing IP configuration. right ?

Thanks,

[Scott Vessey]

No, that’s not what I meant at all, I only referred to the physical adapters.

You don’t have to make any change to the VMs if you don’t want to.

[Mies89]

My approach would be:

• One host in maintenance mode
• Power off host
• Swap network card and additional wiring/switch configuration work etc
• Update all firmware on the system
• Reinstall ESXi with the latest updated release
• Bring the host online and configure the system
• Test the host based on network configuration and connections
• Move a virtual machine

Then start with the next.