Adding a VMkernel Network Interface

VMkernel network interfaces provide the network access for the VMkernel TCP/IP stack. You must create new VMkernel ports for your ESXi system if you plan on using VMotion, VMware FT, or iSCSI and NAS storage. A VMkernel port consists of a port on the virtual switch and a VMkernel interface.

To add a VMkernel Network Interface to your ESXi system, use the following steps.

Procedure

1. Create a HostVirtualNicSpec data object. Inside the object, you can specify the IP configuration in a HostIpConfig data object. For vSS, specify the portgroup property. For vDS, specify the distributedVirtualPort property.
2. Call HostNetworkSystem.AddVirtualNic, passing in the HostVirtualNicSpec.
3. You can then use the VMkernel network interface for software iSCSI or NAS, or call the HostVmotionSystem.SelectVnic method to use this VMkernel NIC for VMotion.

   Adding a VMkernel Network Interface, a code fragment from the AddVirtualNic example, illustrates this. The sample retrieves the IP address from the command line using the cb.get_option call.

Example: Adding a VMkernel Network Interface

private HostVirtualNicSpec createVNicSpecification() {
     HostVirtualNicSpec vNicSpec = new HostVirtualNicSpec();
     HostIpConfig ipConfig = new HostIpConfig();
     ipConfig.setDhcp(false);
     ipAddr = cb.get_option("ipaddress");
     ipConfig.setIpAddress(ipAddr);
     ipConfig.setSubnetMask("255.255.255.0");
     vNicSpec.setIp(ipConfig);
     return vNicSpec;
}
     ....
     
HostVirtualNicSpec vNicSpec = createVNicSpecification();
service.addVirtualNic(nwSystem, portGroup, vNicSpec);