VMWare Networking

ssnyderu2

I have VMWare Workstation 9 as well as ESXi 5.5. I want to load it up with VM's and and NIC cards. Can I assign each individual VM install to its own private network adapter? If so can it be done with both VMWare programs, or do I need to use one over the other? ESXi is on a 32 core server that already had 4 network ports. Workstation 9 is on a 6 core machine with 1 network card. More cards will be added.

Essendon

Both programs will work, performance is slightly better with using ESXi as your bare-metal OS than with Workstation. There are hundreds of blogs/articles on the internet that will walk you through the process of setting up a lab with either. Since you already have ESXi on the beefier machine, just create VMs like you usually would on it and keep them all on the same network (for simplicity to begin with). Best thing about nested ESXi is you dont need to add any cards since it's all in software. How much RAM and disk do you have on the server and what kind of server is it anyway?

ssnyderu2

Essendon wrote: »

Both programs will work, performance is slightly better with using ESXi as your bare-metal OS than with Workstation. There are hundreds of blogs/articles on the internet that will walk you through the process of setting up a lab with either. Since you already have ESXi on the beefier machine, just create VMs like you usually would on it and keep them all on the same network (for simplicity to begin with). Best thing about nested ESXi is you dont need to add any cards since it's all in software. How much RAM and disk do you have on the server and what kind of server is it anyway?

Its a Sunfire x4600 M2. 8 Quad core CPU's at 2.6 GHz with 64 GB of RAM and 2x 174 GB SAS HDD and 2x 500 GB SATA drives.

I wanted to add (6) 2 port NIC cards for a total of 16 ports (4 ports built into the server). This was so that i could simulate 15 PC's and hook them up to my Cisco lab.

Essendon

That sounds like a decent machine. Why do you want to assign a NIC to each VM? VLANs?

ssnyderu2

Essendon wrote: »

That sounds like a decent machine. Why do you want to assign a NIC to each VM? VLANs?

I hope I am explaining what I want to do right. I want to simulate exactly having 15 computers with out having to have 15 physical machines. That way way I can have the VM communicating on a specific RJ45 port with a cable going to a specific port on the Cisco switch. I am trying to avoid having any virtual networking in this case. I dont want 1 or more VM's sharing an Ethernet port.

Essendon

Thanks for the explanation. Looks like you want to passthrough the pNICs to your VMs. Look at this VMware kb. You can passthrough upto 8 devices and there are a number of considerations, go through the linked article. I havent ever done this so cant speak from experience but I suggest you try passing through a NIC to a VM and see if there are any issues before you go about on a buying spree for the cards. While I understand what you are trying to do, what I dont understand is why you dont want to use VLANs (is the Cisco switch not VLAN capable?). In the real world too, you dont have 16 ports on a host (think blades) to play with.

ssnyderu2

Essendon wrote: »

Thanks for the explanation. Looks like you want to passthrough the pNICs to your VMs. Look at this VMware kb. You can passthrough upto 8 devices and there are a number of considerations, go through the linked article. I havent ever done this so cant speak from experience but I suggest you try passing through a NIC to a VM and see if there are any issues before you go about on a buying spree for the cards. While I understand what you are trying to do, what I dont understand is why you dont want to use VLANs (is the Cisco switch not VLAN capable?). In the real world too, you dont have 16 ports on a host (think blades) to play with.

Thanks for the information. The Cisco Switches are VLAN capable. Also keep in mind I could very well be over thinking this and may find that i dont need to worry about setting up VMWare this way. If I can find the post that made me think of it I will copy it here, that may help a bit.

Essendon

Yeah that's what I meant too, you dont need to set this scenario up like the way you are thinking. VLANs are the definitely the way to go. I have seen hosts with 16 network ports and I can tell you the cabling has the potential to get messy (to say the least) and gets in the way of cooling. Anyways, I'd be keen to see the post you are referring to. No offense but VMware is the name of the company, ESXi or more broadly, vSphere, is the name of the product

ssnyderu2

I looked for that post and could not find it. Shoot, for all I know I dreamed it up. lol Starting my Cisco training on March 1st and just want to have the best lab that I can. Also, since I am now putting MCSA off until after my Cisco training, I am looking for something to do with all that server hardware. I find that it is easy to get distracted and over think the whole thing when at the moment you know nothing.

Deathmage

Hmmm... this is a very interesting thread.

I kind of like my esxi cluster but I see the worth of using my 64 gb desktop with a i7-2600k ss more practical sometimes..