Upgrade Network I/O Control to Version 3 on a vSphere Distributed Switch

If you have upgraded a vSphere Distributed Switch to version 6.0.0 without converting Network I/O Control to version 3, you can upgrade Network I/O Control to use the enhanced model for bandwidth allocation to system traffic and to individual virtual machines.

When you upgrade Network I/O Control version 2 to version 3, the settings from all existing system network resource pools that are defined in version 2 are converted to constructs of shares, reservation, and limit for system traffic. Reservation for all converted system traffic types is not set by default.

The upgrade of a distributed switch to version 3 is disruptive. Certain functionality is available only in Network I/O Control version 2 and is removed during the upgrade to version 3.

Table 1. Functionality Removed During the Upgrade to Network I/O Control Version 3

Functionality Removed During the Upgrade	Description
User-defined network resource pools including all associations between them and existing distributed port groups	You can preserve certain resource allocation settings by transferring the shares from the user-defined network resource pools to shares for individual network adapters. Hence, before you upgrade to Network I/O Control version 3, make sure that the upgrade does not impact greatly the bandwidth allocation that is configured for virtual machines in Network I/O Control version 2.
Existing associations between ports and user-defined network resource pools	In Network I/O Control version 3, you cannot associate an individual distributed port to a network resource pool that is different from the pool assigned to the parent port group. In contrast to version 2, Network I/O Control version 3 does not support overriding the resource allocation policy at the port level.
CoS tagging of the traffic that is associated with a network resource pool	Network I/O Control version 3 does not support marking traffic that has higher QoS demands with CoS tags. After the upgrade, to restore CoS tagging of traffic that was associated with a user-defined network resource pool, use the traffic filtering and marking networking policy. See Mark Traffic on a Distributed Port Group or Uplink Port Group and Mark Traffic on a Distributed Port or Uplink Port.

Prerequisites

• Verify that the vSphere Distributed Switch is version 6.0.0.
• Verify that the Network I/O Control feature of the distributed switch is version 2.
• Verify that you have the dvPort group.Modify privilege on the distributed port groups on the switch.
• Verify that all hosts on the switch are connected to vCenter Server.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the distributed switch.
2. From the Actions menu, select Upgrade > Upgrade Network I/O Control.
   The Upgrade Network I/O Control wizard appears.
3. (Optional) On the Overview page, create a backup of the switch configuration.
   You can use the backup to restore the switch configuration if the upgrade fails.
4. Review the changes that the upgrade causes and click Next.
5. Verify that the distributed switch meets the validation prerequisites for the upgrade and click Next.

   Prerequisite	Description
   Port group accessibility	You have privileges to access and modify the uplink and distributed port groups on the switch.
   Host state	All hosts on the switch are connected to vCenter Server.
   CoS priority tag for system traffic	The distributed switch does not have network resource pools that have a CoS tag assigned.
   User-defined network resource pools	The distributed switch does not contain user-defined resource pools for virtual machine bandwidth control.
   Resource allocation policy override	No distributed port groups on the switch allow overriding the Network I/O Control policy on individual ports.

6. If the distributed switch contains user-defined resource pools, transfer the shares from the user-defined resource pools in version 2 to shares of individual VM network adapters in version 3, and click Next.
   Transferring the shares enables you to keep certain bandwidth allocation settings of virtual machines.

   Note: The limits on user-defined network resource pools are not preserved during the conversion.
7. Review the upgrade settings and click Finish.

What to do next

• Assign a reservation bandwidth quota to a group of virtual machines that are connected to the switch by creating network resource pools and associating them with the distributed port groups to which the virtual machines are attached. See Create a Network Resource Pool and Add a Distributed Port Group to a Network Resource Pool.

  If you have transferred the original shares from version 2, they are enforced when you associate network resource pools with the port groups of the switch.

• Allocate bandwidth from the quota to individual virtual machines by using shares, reservation, and limit. See Configure Bandwidth Allocation for a Virtual Machine.