Subject: Best Practices for Migrating VMs to New Cluster – vDS, Networking Setup Advice Needed
Hi all,
We're preparing to migrate around 40 VMs from an older VMware cluster to a new one and I’d appreciate some guidance on the best approach—especially when it comes to networking setup and whether to leverage a vDS.
Current Environment (Source Cluster)
- Hosts: 3 x HPE servers (ESXi 7.0.3 Enterprise Plus)
- vCenter: 8.0.3 Standard
- CPU: AMD
- Storage: iSCSI (Synology)
- Networking:
- Each host has a single standard vSwitch with 8 port groups
- The vSwitch is uplinked to 2 physical NICs
- No distributed switches in use
New Environment (Target Cluster)
- Hosts: 3 x Dell servers (ESXi 8.0.3 Enterprise Plus)
- vCenter: 8.0.3 Standard
- CPU: Intel
- Storage: New iSCSI SAN (Dell FX2141)
- Planning a fresh network setup, possibly with vDS
Key Questions:
- Old Setup – Is the current single vSwitch with multiple port groups and only 2 uplinks per host considered poor practice today? It’s been difficult to manage and scale.
- New Setup – Should I:
- Recreate the same network config temporarily to ease migration, then clean it up later?
- Or design a proper vDS-based setup from the start, even if it means more upfront work?
- vDS Use Case – Is using a vSphere Distributed Switch worth it for just 3 hosts? We’re licensed for it (Enterprise Plus), but I’ve seen mixed opinions for smaller clusters.
- vmkernel Network Design – Planning to separate roles across different VLANs and NICs:
- vmk0 – Management
- vmk1 – vMotion
- vmk2 – VM Network
- vmk3 – iSCSI
Does this approach make sense? Any recommendations for physical NIC mapping or load balancing policies?
- CPU Architecture Change – Since we’re moving from AMD (old) to Intel (new), is there anything to watch out for? All VMs are on fairly recent hardware versions and VMware Tools are current.
- VM Network Migration – If I move VMs from a standard switch setup to a vDS, do I need to reassign NICs manually post-migration, or can I align port group names to make the transition smoother?
Appreciate any advice from those who’ve gone through similar migrations or have recommendations for a clean network architecture. Thanks in advance!