A distributed port is a port on a vSphere distributed switch that connects to the VMkernel or to a virtual machine's network adapter.

Default distributed port configuration is determined by the distributed port group settings, but some settings for individual distributed ports can be overridden.

Monitor the State of Distributed Ports in the vSphere Client

Learn how vSphere monitors distributed ports and provides information about the current state and runtime statistics of each port. Starting vSphere 8.0 Update 3, all the ports are displayed, you can filter all the columns in the ports list.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client Home page, click Networking and select the distributed switch.
  2. Click the Ports tab and select a port from the list.
    All the ports are displayed on the grid.
    The ports table for the distributed switch displays runtime statistics for each distributed port.
  3. Click the funnel icon next to Port ID to filter ports by Port ID.
  4. Click the funnel icon next to Name to filter ports by the name of the port.
  5. Click the funnel icon next to Connectee column to filter based on the conectee for each distributed port.
    Option Description
    Physical Adapter Search is based on the connected physical adapter.
    VMkernal Adapter Search is based on the connected host VmkVnic.
    Virtual Machine Search is based on the connected VM.
    Host Search is based on the connected host.
    -- Search based on the connectee of this distributed port is currently unavailable.
  6. Click the funnel icon next to Runtime MAC Address to filter ports by the MAC address of distributed port.
  7. Click the funnel icon next to Port Group to filter ports by the name of the port group.
  8. Click the funnel icon next to State column to filter based on the uplink connection for each distributed port.

    The State column displays the current state for each distributed port.

    Option Description
    Link Up The link for this distributed port is up.
    Link Down The link for this distributed port is down.
    Blocked This distributed port is blocked.
    -- The state of this distributed port is currently unavailable.
  9. Click the funnel icon next to VLAN ID column to filter based on the conectee for each distributed port.
    Option Description
    VLAN Search results are based on the VLAN ID.
    Private VLAN Search results are based on the Private VLAN that is identified by its primary VLAN ID
    VLAN Trunk Search results are based on the VLAN traffic with ID within the VLAN trunk range
    -- Search is based on the VLAN ID of this distributed port that is currently unavailable.
  10. Click the funnel icon next to VIF ID to filter ports by the virtual interface identifier.

Configure Distributed Port Settings in vSphere Client

Learn how to configure general distributed port settings such as the port name and description.

Procedure

  1. Locate a distributed port group in the vSphere Client.
    1. Select a distributed switch and click the Networks tab.
    2. Click Distributed Port Groups.
  2. Click a distributed port group from the list.
  3. Click the Ports tab, and select a distributed port from the table.
    Information about the distributed port appears at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Click the Edit settings icon.
  5. On the Properties page and policy pages, edit information about the distributed port and click OK.

    If overrides are not allowed, the policy options are disabled.

    You can allow overrides at the port level by changing the Advanced settings of the distributed port group. See Configure Overriding Networking Policies on Port Level.