Migrate Network Adapters on a Host to a vSphere Distributed Switch

For hosts associated with a distributed switch, you can migrate network adapters from a standard switch to the distributed switch. You can migrate physical NICs, VMkernel adapters, and virtual machine network adapters at the same time.

To migrate virtual machine network adapters or VMkernel adapters, make sure that the destination distributed port groups have at least one active uplink, and the uplink is connected to a physical NIC on this host. Alternatively, migrate physical NICs, virtual network adapters, and VMkernel adapters at once.

To migrate physical NICs, make sure that the source port groups on the standard switch have at least one physical NIC to handle their traffic. For example, if you migrate a physical NIC that is assigned to a port group for virtual machine networking, make sure that the port group is connected to at least one physical NIC. Otherwise the virtual machines on same VLAN on the standard switch will have connectivity between each other but not to the external network.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the host.
2. On the Configure tab, expand Networking and select Virtual Switches.
3. Select the destination distributed switch and click the horizontal elipsis icon next to Manage physical adapters.
4. Select Migrate Networking..
5. Configure physical NICs.
   1. From the On other switches/unclaimed list, select a physical NIC and click Assign uplink.
   2. Select an uplink and click OK.
   3. Click Next.
6. Configure VMkernel adapters.
   1. Select an adapter and click Assign port group.
   2. Select a distributed port group and click OK.
      You should connect one VMkernel adapter to one distributed port group at a time.
   3. Click Next.
7. Configure virtual machine network adapters.
   1. Select the check box Migrate virtual machine networking.
   2. Select a virtual machine or a virtual machine network adapter and click Assign port group.
      If you select a virtual machine, you migrate all network adapters on the virtual machine. If you select a network adapter, you migrate only this network adapter.
   3. Select a distributed port group from the list and click OK.
   4. Click Next.
8. On the Ready to complete page, review the new networking configuration and click Finish.