Distributed Port Group and VMkernel Adapter Design for a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain

The design of a distributed port group specifies port configuration options for each member port on a vSphere Distributed Switch. Distributed port groups define how a connection is made to a network.

Port Group Configuration

The port group configuration of the distributed switch for a VI workload domain follows the network configuration for the domain in VMware Cloud Foundation.

Figure 1. Networks Connected to the vSphere Distributed Switch for a VI Workload Domain

Table 1. Port Group Binding and Teaming

Networks	Port Group Function	Port Binding	Teaming Policy	Active Uplinks	Failover Detection	Notify Switches	Failback
Management VLAN	Management	Static Port Binding	Route based on physical NIC load	1, 2	Link status only	Yes	Yes
vSphere vMotion VLAN	vMotion	Static Port Binding	Route based on physical NIC load	1, 2	Link status only	Yes	Yes
vSAN VLAN	vSAN	Static Port Binding	Route based on physical NIC load	1, 2	Link status only	Yes	Yes
NFS VLAN	NFS (Optional/ Manually created)	Static Port Binding	Route based on physical NIC load	1, 2	Link status only	Yes	Yes
Host overlay (TEP) VLAN	The host overlay (TEP) traffic is not assigned a distributed port group. It is directly mapped to the switch uplinks. See Overlay Design for a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain.
Edge Uplink VLANs Edge overlay (TEP and RTEP) VLANs	Edge Uplink01	See Network Design for the NSX Edge Nodes for a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain.
	Edge Uplink02

NIC Teaming

For a predictable level of performance and for high availability, use multiple network adapters in one of the following configurations.

• An active-passive configuration that uses explicit failover when connected to two separate switches.

• An active-active configuration in which two or more physical NICs in the server are assigned the active role.

Table 2. Design Decisions on Distributed Port Groups

Decision ID	Design Decision	Design Justification	Design Implication
VCF-WLD-VCS-VDS-003	Use static port binding for all port groups in a VI workload domain cluster.	Static binding ensures a virtual machine connects to the same port on the vSphere Distributed Switch. This configuration supports historical data and port level monitoring. Because the vCenter Server instance managing the VI workload domain resides in the management domain, using an ephemeral port group for vCenter Server recoverability is not required.	None
VCF-WLD-VCS-VDS-004	Use the Route based on physical NIC load teaming algorithm for the management port group.	Reduces the complexity of the network design and increases resiliency and performance.	None
VCF-WLD-VCS-VDS-005	Use the Route based on physical NIC load teaming algorithm for the vSphere vMotion port group.	Reduces the complexity of the network design and increases resiliency and performance.	None

VMkernel Network Adapter Configuration

The VMkernel networking layer provides connectivity to hosts and handles the system traffic for management, vSphere vMotion, vSphere HA, vSAN, and others.

Table 3. Default VMkernel Adapters for a VI Workload Domain with a Single Availability Zone

VMkernel Adapter Service	Connected Port Group	Enabled Services	MTU Size (Bytes)
Management	Management Port Group	Management Traffic	1500 (Default)
vMotion	vMotion Port Group	vMotion Traffic	9000
vSAN	vSAN Port Group	vSAN	9000

Table 4. Default VMkernel Adapters for a VI Workload Domain with Multiple Availability Zones

Availability Zones	VMkernel Adapter Service	Connected Port Group	Enabled Services	MTU Size (Bytes)
First availability zone	Management	Management port group for the first availability zone	Management Traffic	1500 (Default)
	vMotion	vSphere vMotion port group for the first availability zone	vMotion Traffic	9000
	vSAN	vSAN port group for the first availability zone	vSAN	9000
Second availability zone	Management	Management port group for the second availbaility zone	Management Traffic	1500 (Default)
	vMotion	vSphere vMotion port group for the second availability zone	vMotion Traffic	9000
	vSAN	vSAN port group for the second availability zone	vSAN	9000