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Using Multiple Network Adaptors for vMotion

September 16, 2011 by FrankBrix 8 Comments

One of the coolest new features in vSphere 5 is the ability to use multiple network adaptors for vMotion traffic. This will work on Standard vSwitches and Distributed Switches. It does not require any special license. If you have vMotion licensed you can use the feature.

Prior to vSphere 5 vMotion traffic would only use one physical network adaptor. It did not help to add multiple adaptors and change load balancing to IP Hash and bond the physical nisc in an etherchannel. That meant the only way to increase vMotion throughput was to upgrade from 1Gb to 10Gb Ethernet! Not a plausible solution for everyone.

Configuration

In order to use this new feature you need to configure multiple vmkernel adaptors for vMotion. Actually you will need to configure one for each physical adaptor connected to the vSwitch.

In my example I want to use two physical adapters for vMotion (vmnic1 and vmnic2). First I create a new vSwitch and create two vmkernel adaptors for vMotion. The vmkernel ip addresses are in the same subnet.

After creating the two vmkernel interfaces on the vSwitch we need to set “vMotion1” active on vmnic1 and standby on vmnic2. We will then set the “vMotion2” interface active on vmnic2 and standby on vmnic1.

Now you have 2Gb of throughput for your vMotion network. If you need more throughput just add more physical nics and create extra vmkernel interfaces.

Verifying it is working

To verify you have set it up correctly and you are using multiple nics for vMotion traffic do the following:

1. Select your ESXi host in the vCenter inventory.

2. Select the performance tab

3. Select advanced

4. Select “chart options”

5. Then create a graph with “network” realtime and choose the nics you are using for vMotion. Either choose “data transmit rate” or “data receive rate” – make the graph stacked.

6. Start a vMotion and check that every nic is loaded.

Here is a screenshot of my enviroment. Look at the end of the graph. A vMotion is saturating three 1Gb adaptors! 🙂

Filed Under: vMotion

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jason Langer says

    September 16, 2011 at 18:41

    Frank,

    Good article! Question however. We currently run a single vSwitch that has 2 PG and 2 physical nics. One PG for Mgmt Network, the other PG for vMotion. In this design would it be possible to add a 3rd physical nic and configure fail over as follows:

    vmk0 (Mgmt) – vmnic0 Active – vmnic1 and vmnic2 standby
    vmk1 (vMotion1) – vmnic1 Active – vmnic2 Standby – vminc0 – Unused
    vmk2 (vMotion2) – vminc2 Actvie – vmnic1 Standby – vmnic0 – Unused

    Thanks in advance,

    -Jason

  2. FrankBrix says

    September 16, 2011 at 18:47

    Hi Jason, Thanks.

    Yes you can configure it that way! No problem 🙂

  3. Eyal Tamir says

    October 17, 2011 at 09:35

    Excellent Article, and quite useful as well…many thanks…!

  4. Sven Vogel says

    August 17, 2012 at 14:53

    Hi Frank,

    did you know if there also only one adapter used if i use a etherchannel?

    thanks

    Sven

  5. frankbrix says

    August 18, 2012 at 20:05

    Yes only one adapter is used with etherchannel. Only way to use multiple adapters is multiple vmkernel ports.

  6. Sven Vogel says

    August 23, 2012 at 16:45

     thanks Frank for answer 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. NTPRO.NL - Eric Sloof says:
    September 17, 2011 at 22:29

    Video – Running vMotion on multiple–network adaptors…

    I’ve created a real cool video which shows you how to configure your vSphere 5 network in order to use multiple network adapters for vMotion. The idea for this video came from fellow VCI and virtualization friend Frank Brix Pedersen. More information a…

  2. Technology Short Take #15 - blog.scottlowe.org - The weblog of an IT pro specializing in virtualization, storage, and servers says:
    October 3, 2011 at 15:01

    […] Here’s a good walk-through on setting up vMotion across multiple network interfaces. […]

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