How to Place Traffic for Cold Migration, Cloning, and Snapshots on the Provisioning TCP/IP Stack

Learn how to use the provisioning TCP/IP stack to isolate traffic for cold migration, VM clones, snapshots, and cold data in hot migration, and to assign a dedicated default gateway, routing table, and DNS configuration for this traffic. To enable the Provisioning TCP/IP stack, assign a new VMkernel adapter to it.

By using a separate TCP/IP stack, you can handle vMotion and cold migration traffic according to the topology of the network and as required for your organization:

Route the traffic for migration of powered on or powered off virtual machines by using a default gateway. The gateway must be different from the gateway assigned to the default stack on the host.

By using a separate default gateway, you can use DHCP for IP address assignment to the VMkernel adapters for migration in a flexible way.
Assign a separate set of buffers and sockets.
Avoid routing table conflicts that might otherwise appear when many features are using a common TCP/IP stack.
Isolate traffic to improve security.

Prerequisites

Verify that the host is running ESXi 6.0 or later

Procedure

In the vSphere Client, navigate to the host.
Click the Configure tab.
Select Networking, and click VMkernel adapters.
Click Add networking.
On the Select connection type page, select VMkernel Network Adapter and click Next.

On the Select target device page, select the switch for the VMkernel adapter, and click Next.

Option	Description
Select an existing network	Use the physical adapter configuration of an existing distributed port group to send data from the VMkernel adapter to the external network.
Select an existing standard switch	Use the physical adapter configuration for the VMkernel adapter of an existing standard switch.
New vSphere standard switch	Assign a new physical adapter configuration for the VMkernel adapter on a new standard switch.

On the Port properties page, select Provisioning from the TCP/IP stack drop-down menu.

The provisioning traffic becomes the only service that is enabled. You cannot use this VMkernel adapter for traffic types other than provisioning.
Set the label, VLAN ID, and IP mode of the VMkernel adapter, and click Next.

(Optional) On the IPv4 settings page, select an option for obtaining IP addresses.

Option	Description
Obtain IPv4 settings automatically	Use DHCP to obtain IP settings. A DHCP server must be present on the network.
Use static IPv4 settings	Enter the IPv4 IP address and subnet mask for the VMkernel adapter. The VMkernel Default Gateway and DNS server addresses for IPv4 are obtained from the selected TCP/IP stack. Select the Override default gateway for this adapter check box and enter a gateway address, if you want to specify a different gateway for the VMkernel adapter. Note: Selected netstack should have the default gateway explicitly on each host.

Option

Description

Obtain IPv4 settings automatically

Use DHCP to obtain IP settings. A DHCP server must be present on the network.

Use static IPv4 settings

Enter the IPv4 IP address and subnet mask for the VMkernel adapter.

The VMkernel Default Gateway and DNS server addresses for IPv4 are obtained from the selected TCP/IP stack.

Select the Override default gateway for this adapter check box and enter a gateway address, if you want to specify a different gateway for the VMkernel adapter.

Note: Selected netstack should have the default gateway explicitly on each host.

(Optional) On the IPv6 settings page, select an option for obtaining IPv6 addresses.

Option	Description
Obtain IPv6 addresses automatically through DHCP	Use DHCP to obtain IPv6 addresses. A DHCPv6 server must be present on the network.
Obtain IPv6 addresses automatically through Router Advertisement	Use router advertisement to obtain IPv6 addresses. In ESXi 6.5 and later router advertisement is enabled by default and supports the M and O flags in accordance with RFC 4861.
Static IPv6 addresses	Click Add IPv6 address to add a new IPv6 address. Enter the IPv6 address and subnet prefix length, and click OK. To change the VMkernel default gateway, click Override default gateway for this adapter. The VMkernel Default Gateway address for IPv6 is obtained from the selected TCP/IP stack.

Option

Description

Obtain IPv6 addresses automatically through DHCP

Use DHCP to obtain IPv6 addresses. A DHCPv6 server must be present on the network.

Obtain IPv6 addresses automatically through Router Advertisement

Use router advertisement to obtain IPv6 addresses.

In ESXi 6.5 and later router advertisement is enabled by default and supports the M and O flags in accordance with RFC 4861.

Static IPv6 addresses

Click Add IPv6 address to add a new IPv6 address.
Enter the IPv6 address and subnet prefix length, and click OK.
To change the VMkernel default gateway, click Override default gateway for this adapter.

The VMkernel Default Gateway address for IPv6 is obtained from the selected TCP/IP stack.

Review your settings selections on the Ready to complete page and click Finish.

Results

After you create a VMkernel adapter on the provisioning TCP/IP stack, you can use only this stack for cold migration, cloning, and snapshots on this host. The VMkernel adapters on the default TCP/IP stack are deactivated for the provisioning service. If a live migration uses the default TCP/IP stack while you configure VMkernel adapters with the provisioning TCP/IP stack, the data transfer completes successfully. However, the involved VMkernel adapters on the default TCP/IP stack are deactivated for future cold migration, cross-host cloning, and snapshot sessions.