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In this section:
The information on this page refers to standard 1:1 HA deployments of SBC SWe and does not apply to N:1 deployments. SBC SWe N:1 deployments on VMware are instantiated using the infrastructure as code (IaC) environment. For information on IaC, refer to Using the Ribbon IaC Environment to Deploy SBC SWe on VMware.
The vSwitch can route traffic internally between virtual machines and link to external networks. You can also configure a vSwitch to handle physical NIC failover. The vSwitch can be configured in the following scenarios:
You must configure virtual network interface cards (vNICs) on the SBC SWe. The SBC SWe is independent from mapping of physical interfaces to vSwitches. The recommended configuration is to have vNICs on the different vSwitches as shown below.
vNetwork Standard Switch Without Physical NIC Redundancy
Configure vSwitch in the following order:
To configure the vSwitch, perform the following steps:
The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented images exactly.
Login as user root on VMware vSphere client.
VMware VSphere Client Login
The vSphere Client main window appears.
Select the Host in VMware vSphere Client. Select Configuration.
Adding Virtual Interface
Select Networking tab and select Add Networking link as shown in the figure. Select Virtual Machine and click Next.
Configuring vSwitch
Add a New Virtual Interface and vSwitch0 (MGMT).
Select Use vSwitch0. The vmnic0 is automatically selected. Make sure that the speed is showing 1000 Full for the selected vSwitch. It indicates physical port is up. Click Next.
Selecting vSwitch0
Enter Network Label. For example MGMT. Click Next and Finish.
Entering Label
Add a New Virtual Interface and new vSwitch1 (HA).
Select Create a vSphere standard switch. Select vmnic1. Make sure that the speed is showing 1000 Full for the selected vSwitch. It indicates physical port is up. Click Next.
Adding vSwitch 1
Enter Network Label. For example HA. Click Next and Finish.
Entering Network Label HA
Select Create a vSphere standard switch. Select vmnic2. Make sure that the speed is showing 1000 Full for the selected vSwitch. It indicates physical port is up. Click Next.
Selecting vmnic2
Enter Network Label. For example PKT0. Click Next and Finish.
Entering Network Label (PKT0)
Select Create a vSphere standard switch. Select vmnic3. Make sure that the speed is showing 1000 Full for the selected vSwitch. It indicates physical port is up. Click Next.
Selecting vmnic3
Enter Network Label. For example PKT1. Click Next and Finish.
Entering Network Label (PKT1)
If the VLAN is used for packet ports (PKT 0 or PKT1), then the VLAN ID (optional) parameter must be selected as ALL (4095). This method is recommended and it is called as VGT (Virtual Guest tagging), where the guest OS takes care of VLAN tagging functionality. The VLAN can be used for either PKT0 or PKT1 or both. For non-VLAN configuration, use the default value 0.
Configuring VLAN
Configuring VLAN
Verify that the added vSwitches are in proper order. Click Configuration tab and Networking.
The switches and interfaces MUST be defined in this order:
vSwitch0 - MGMT
vSwitch1 - HA
vSwitch2 - PKT0
vSwitch3 - PKT1
Verifying vSwitches
Usage of vSwitch0 is not a mandatory requirement for MGMT0 interface. If server has more than 4 physical NIC ports, there is an option to assign MGMT label to vSwitch1, HA to vSwitch2, PKT0 to vSwitch3 and PKT1 to vSwitch4.
To protect the NIC failures, each vSwitch is configured with active and standby up-link adapters (physical NICs) using the NIC teaming feature of the VMware. To support this redundant configuration, ensure there is a minimum of eight physical NIC ports on the box. This configuration for high end system with full NIC protection as shown:
vNetwork Standard Switch With Physical NIC Redundancy
NIC teaming allows you to group two or more physical NICs into a single logical network device called a bond. Once a logical NIC is configured, the virtual machine is not aware of the underlying physical NICs. Packets sent to the logical NIC are sent to one of the physical NICs in the bond and packets arriving at any of the physical NICs are automatically directed to the appropriate logical NIC.
Physical NIC ports needs to be configured in active-standby mode only while using VMware NIC teaming feature.
To configure, perform the following steps:
The figures shown in this procedure are intended as examples of the user interface and might not match the presented images exactly.
Repeat sub steps of Step 3 shown in Configuring vNetwork Standard Switch Without Physical NIC Redundancy
Add additional NICs and group it by using the following steps:
Select Management network Properties link as shown:
Selecting Management Network Properties
In vSwitch properties window click Network Adapters tab and click Add.
Selecting Network Adapter
In Add Adapter Wizard, select the NIC to group it. For example, if you are grouping vmnic1 and vmnic4 for management network, select vmnic4 check box.
Selecting NIC
Click Next after selecting the vmnic.
Selecting NIC
Select the order of fail over by moving adapters up or down.
Arranging Failover Order
Click Next in Failover Order, and then click Finish.
Adapter Summary
Now the management network adapter is grouped with NICs (in this example, vmnic0 and vmnic4) to support NIC redundancy. Following example screen shows management network adapter NIC redundancy.
NIC Redundancy for Management Network
Repeat the steps of Adding Additional NICs for HA, PKT0 and PKT1 ports NIC grouping.
It is recommended to configure all four ports with different IP addresses in four different networks. For example: