In the VMware Host Client, you can add a standard virtual switch to provide network connectivity for the host that you are managing and for the virtual machines on that host, and to handle VMkernel traffic. Depending on the type of connection that you want to create, you can create vSphere standard switch with a VMkernel adapter, connect an existing physical network adapter to the new switch, or create the switch with a virtual machine port group.

Procedure

  1. Right-click Networking in the VMware Host Client inventory and click Add standard vSwitch in the pop-up menu.
  2. (Optional) Click Add uplink to add a new physical uplink to a virtual switch.
  3. Enter a name for the virtual switch and click Create virtual switch.
  4. Select an uplink for the virtual switch.
  5. Expand Link discovery and select an option for the virtual switch mode.
    Operation Description
    Listen ESXi detects and displays information about the associated physical switch port, but information about the vSphere Standard Switch is not available to the switch administrator.
    Advertise ESXi makes information about the vSphere Standard Switch available to the switch administrator, but does not detect and display information about the physical switch.
    Both ESXi detects and displays information about the associated physical switch and makes information about the vSphere Standard Switch available to the switch administrator.
    None ESXi does not detect or display information about the associated physical switch port, and information about the vSphere Standard Switch is not available to the switch administrator.
  6. In the Protocol section, select Cisco Discovery Protocol from the drop-down menu.
  7. Expand Security and accept or reject promiscuous mode, MAC address changes, and forged transmits of the virtual machines attached to the standard switch.
    Option Description
    Promiscuous mode
    • Reject. The VM network adapter receives only frames that are addressed to the virtual machine.
    • Accept.The virtual switch forwards all frames to the virtual machine in compliance with the active VLAN policy for the port to which the VM network adapter is connected.
    Note: Promiscuous mode is insecure mode of operation. Firewalls, port scanners, intrusion detection systems, must run in promiscuous mode.
    MAC address changes
    • Reject. If the guest OS changes the effective MAC address of the virtual machine to a value that is different from the MAC address of the VM network adapter (set in the .vmx configuration file), the switch drops all inbound frames to the adapter.

      If the guest OS changes the effective MAC address of the virtual machine back to the MAC address of the VM network adapter, the virtual machine receives frames again.

    • Accept. If the guest OS changes the effective MAC address of the virtual machine to a value that is different from the MAC address of the VM network adapter, the switch allows frames to the new address to pass.
    Forged transmits
    • Reject. The switch drops any outbound frame from a virtual machine adapter with a source MAC address that is different from the one in the .vmx configuration file.
    • Accept. The switch does not perform filtering, and permits all outbound frames.
  8. Click Add.