Simplify VMware vSphere* 4 Networking with Intel Ethernet 10 Gigabit Server Adapters

The Foundation of Virtualization
WHITEPAPER
7
This approach increases operational agility and flexibility by allowing
the bandwidth to the host and its associated VMs to be monitored and
dynamically allocated as needed. In addition to reducing the number
of GbE connections, the move from a dedicated host bus adapter to
Intel Ethernet Server Adapters with support for iSCSI and FCoE can take
advantage of 10GbE connections.
BesT praCTiCes To aChieve
near-naTive performanCe
The methods and techniques in this section provide guidance during
network design that help engineers achieve high performance. The
diagram in Figure 4 summarizes these best practices.
BEST PRACTICE 1: USE VIRTUAL DISTRIBUTED
SWITCHES TO MAXIMUM EFFECT
The VMware vDS feature manages trac within the virtual network,
providing robust functionality that simplifies the establishment of VLANs
for the functional separation of network trac. This virtual switch capabil-
ity represents a substantial step forward from predecessor technologies,
providing the following significant benefits to administrators:
•Robust central management removes the need to touch every
physical host for many configuration tasks, reducing the chance of
misconfiguration and improving the eciency of administration.
•Bandwidth aggregation enables administrators to combine
throughput from multiple physical server adapters into a single
virtual connection
•Network failover allows one physical server adapter to provide
redundancy for another while dramatically reducing the number
of physical switch ports required.
•Network VMotion allows the tracking of the VM’s networking
state (for example, counters and port statistics) as the VM
moves from host to host.
VMware
VMotion*
VMware vNetwork
Distributed Switch
Primary Traffic:
Virtual Machines (VMs)
Secondary Traffic:
VMKernel
VLAN Trunk Traffic:
A, B, C, D, E
Primary Traffic:
VMKernel
Secondary Traffic:
Virtual Machines (VMs)
VLAN Trunk Traffic:
A, B, C, D, E
VM Traffic
VLAN-A
VMKernel
VM Traffic
VLAN-B
VMKernel
VMware
VMotion*
VLAN-D
VMKernel
Service Console
VLAN-E
VM Traffic #2
VLAN-C
Port #1
10Gb
Port #2
10Gb
Port
Groups
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
Service
Console
APP
OS
Figure 4: Summary of best practices for network design using VMware vSphere* 4
and Intel
®
Ethernet 10GbE Server Adapters.
The VMware vDS feature manages trac within the virtual network,
providing robust functionality that simplifies the establishment of
VLANs for the functional separation of network trac.