How to configure VMWARE networking from the Service console command line.

How to configure VMWARE networking from the command line.

see vmware KB 1000258
1.
Ensure the network adapter you want to use is currently connected

[root@server root]#  esxcfg-nics –l
Name    PCI      Driver      Link Speed    Duplex Description
vmnic0  06:00.00 tg3         Up   1000Mbps Full   Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721 Gigabit Ethernet
vmnic1  07:00.00 tg3         Up   1000Mbps Full   Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721 Gigabit Ethernet

Up indicates that the network adapter is available and functioning.

2.
List the current virtual switches

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch –l
Switch Name    Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  Uplinks
vSwitch0       32          3           32                vmnic0

PortGroup Name      Internal ID    VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
VM Network          portgroup2     0        0           vmnic0

In the above example, there exists a virtual machine network named “VM Network” and no Service Console portgroup. For illustration, we will create a new virtual switch and place the service console portgroup on it.

3.
Create a new virtual switch:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch –a vSwitch1

4.
Create the Service Console portgroup on this new virtual switch:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch –A “Service Console” vSwitch1

Because there is a space in the name we chose (Service Console), we must enclose it in quotation marks.

5.
Uplink vmnic1 to the new virtual switch:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch –L vmnic1 vSwitch1

6.
If you need to assign a VLAN, use the command:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v <VLAN> -p “Service Console” vSwitch0

where <VLANID> is the VLAN number. A zero here specifies no VLAN.

7.
Verify the new virtual switch configuration:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswitch –l

Switch Name    Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  Uplinks
vSwitch0       32          3           32                vmnic0

PortGroup Name      Internal ID    VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
Service Console     portgroup5     0        1           vmnic0

Switch Name    Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  Uplinks
vSwitch1       64          1           64                vmnic1

PortGroup Name      Internal ID    VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
Service Console     portgroup14    0        1           vmnic1

8.
Create the vswif (Service Console) interface. For example:

[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswif –a vswif0 –i 192.168.1.10 –n 255.255.255.0 –p “Service Console”
[‘Vnic’ warning] Generated New Mac address, 00:50:yy:yy:yy:yy for vswif0

Nothing to flush.

9.
Verify the configuration:

[root@esx]# esxcfg-vswif –l
Name     Port Group          IP Address    Netmask          Broadcast      Enabled   DHCP
vswif0   Service Console     192.168.1.10  255.255.255.0    192.168.1.255  true      false

10.
Verify the networking configuration on the ESX Server host. See Verifying ESX Server host networking configuration on the service console (1003796) .