Enabling jumbo frame support on a virtual machine requires an enhanced VMXNET adapter for that virtual machine.

Procedure

  1. Locate the virtual machine in the vSphere Web Client.
    1. Select a data center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host and click the VMs tab.
    2. Click Virtual Machines and double-click the virtual machine from the list.
  2. On the Configure tab of the virtual machine, expand Settings and select VM Hardware.
  3. Click Edit and select the Virtual Hardware tab in the dialog box displaying the settings.
  4. Expand the Network adapter section. Record the network settings and MAC address that the network adapter is using.
  5. Click Remove to remove the network adapter from the virtual machine.
  6. From the New device drop-down menu, select Network and click Add.
  7. From the Adapter Type drop-down menu, select VMXNET 2 (Enhanced) or VMXNET 3.
  8. Set the network settings to the ones recorded for the old network adapter.
  9. Set the MAC Address to Manual, and type the MAC address that the old network adapter was using.
  10. Click OK.

What to do next

  • Check that the enhanced VMXNET adapter is connected to a standard switch or to a distributed switch with jumbo frames enabled.
  • Inside the guest operating system, configure the network adapter to allow jumbo frames. See the documentation of your guest operating system.
  • Configure all physical switches and any physical or virtual machines to which this virtual machine connects to support jumbo frames.