Owner`s manual

NetworkingBestPracticesforVMwareInfrastructure3onDellPowerEdgeBladeServers
Figure3:AdapterandI/OModulesconnectioninChassisforFullHeightBlades
For more information on port mapping, see the Hardware Owner’s Manual for your blade server model at
http://support.dell.com
.
2.4 MappingbetweenESXPhysicalAdapterEnumerationandI/O
Modules
The following table shows how the ESX/ESXi 3.5 servers enumerate the physical adapters and the I/O modules they
connect to. This enumeration only applies to blade servers that have all their I/O mezzanine cards populated with
dual port network adapters.
Table 1: ESX/ESXi Physical Adapter Enumeration
ESX/ESXi Network
Adapter enumeration
Full Height Blade Connection
(M710, M805, M905)
Half Height Blade Connection
(M600, M605, M610)
vmnic0 I/O Module A1 (port n) I/O Module A1(port n)
vmnic1 I/O Module A2 (port n) I/O Module A2(port n)
vmnic2 I/O Module A1 (port n+8) I/O Module B1(port n)
vmnic3 I/O Module A2 (port n+8) I/O Module B2(port n)
vmnic4 I/O Module C1 (port n) I/O Module C1(port n)
vmnic5 I/O Module C2 (port n) I/O Module C2(port n)
vmnic6 I/O Module B1 (port n) N/A
vmnic7 I/O Module B2 (port n) N/A
vmnic8 I/O Module C1 (port n+8) N/A
vmnic9 I/O Module C2 (port n+8) N/A
vmnic10 I/O Module B1 (port n+8) N/A
vmnic11 I/O Module B2 (port n+8) N/A

In the above table, port n refers to the port in the I/O modules to which the physical adapter connects, where n
represents the slot in which the blade is installed. For example, vmnic0 of a PowerEdge M710 blade in slot 3 is
connected to I/O module A1 at port 3. vmnic3 for the same server connects to I/O module A2 at port 11.
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