Esxi- move management to another vSwitch

  1. Open ESXi shell.

  2. Under ESXi local console, use "alt+F1" entry ESXi shell.

  3. vi /etc/vmware/esx.conf, below is an example

# vSwitch0
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/...
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/name = "vSwitch0"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/numPorts = "128"
# vSwitch0->portGroupA
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0000]/name = "portGroupA"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0000]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
# vSwitch0->portGroupB
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0001]/name = "portGroupB"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0001]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"

# vSwitch1
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/...
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/name = "vSwitch1"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/numPorts = "128"
# vSwitch1->portGroupC (Management Network)
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0000]/name = "portGroupC"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0000]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"
# vSwitch1->portGroupD
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0001]/name = "portGroupD"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0001]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"

(1) Check the firewall rule of this esxi, if you can ping but can not access its management web

(2) Make sure each vswitch has its uplinks

/net/vswitch/child[0000]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"

4. Now, we want to move portGroupC from vSwitch1 to vSwitch0, so the configuration is like this:

vSwitch0        --> vmnic0
|--portGroupA
|--portGroupB
|--portGroupC

vSwitch1        --> vmnic1
|--portGroupD

To do this, we:

  • Identify all of the portGroupC lines, which start with /net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0000]. Move those entries up with the vSwitch0 config (not necessary, but makes things clearer when editing).

  • Change /net/vswitch/child[0001] to /net/vswitch/child[0000] on each line (because we're moving it to that switch).

  • Realize that there is already a /net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0000](portGroupA), and change portGroupC to /portgroup/child[0002].

  • Realize that our uplink for that port group is now incorrect (if specified), and change uplinks[0000]/pnic = from vmnic1 to vmnic0 (because that is the vmnic serving that vSwitch.)

The final config should look like this:

# vSwitch0
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/...
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/name = "vSwitch0"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/numPorts = "128"
# vSwitch0->portGroupA
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0000]/name = "portGroupA"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0000]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
# vSwitch0->portGroupB
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0001]/name = "portGroupB"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0001]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
# vSwitch1->portGroupC
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0002]/name = "portGroupC"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/portgroup/child[0002]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"
/net/vswitch/child[0000]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic0"

# vSwitch1
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/...
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/name = "vSwitch1"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/numPorts = "128"
# vSwitch1->portGroupD
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0000]/name = "portGroupD"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/portgroup/child[0000]/teamPolicy/uplinks[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"
/net/vswitch/child[0001]/uplinks/child[0000]/pnic = "vmnic1"

5. Other changes

  • Set IP for management

  • Set Vlan ID for management

  • Choose vmnic for management

  • Change PA rules if need

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