For hosts that are associated with a distributed switch, you can assign physical NICs to uplinks on the switch. You can configure physical NICs on the distributed switch for multiple hosts at a time.

For consistent networking configuration throughout all hosts, you can assign the same physical NIC on every host to the same uplink on the distributed switch. For example, you can assign vmnic1 from hosts ESXi A and ESXi B to Uplink 1.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the distributed switch.
  2. From the Actions menu, select Add and Manage Hosts.
  3. In Select task, select Manage host networking and click Next.
  4. In Select hosts, click Attached hosts and select from the hosts that are associated with the distributed switch.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In Select network adapter tasks, select Manage physical adapters and click Next.
  7. In Manage physical network adapters, select a physical NIC from the On other switches/unclaimed list.
    If you select physical NICs that are already assigned to other switches, they are migrated to the current distributed switch.
  8. Click Assign uplink.
  9. Select an uplink or select Auto-assign.
  10. Click Next.
  11. Review the impacted services as well as the level of impact.
    Option Description
    No impact iSCSI will continue its normal function after the new networking configuration is applied.
    Important impact The normal function of iSCSI might be disrupted if the new networking configuration is applied.
    Critical impact The normal function of iSCSI will be interrupted if the new networking configuration is applied.
    1. If the impact on iSCSI is important or critical, click iSCSI entry and review the reasons that are displayed in the Analysis details pane.
    2. After you troubleshoot the impact on iSCSI, proceed with your networking configuration.
  12. Click Next and click Finish.