Question

Maximizing network usage using dual network connection on ESXi 4

Asked by: jjoz

Hi All,

I'm wondering if i could use both of the NIC connection at the same time to boost performance ?

in the attached screen shot one is currently disabled ?

I'm using ESXi 4 with the latest patch and this is Dell Power Edge 2950-III Broadcom NetExtreme II NIC and Intel Pro 1000 MT with TOE NIC, while the switch the Switch is just a dumb switch of HP Procurve 1800-24G which supports Gigabit

all of the cables is Cat6 and the IP address currently assigned to this ESXi host is just one.

any kind of suggestion to optimize the current configuration would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

JJ

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Asked On
2009-10-06 at 23:02:45ID24791397
Tags

ESXi

,

VMWare

,

Dell PowerEdge

,

NIC

,

vswitch

Topics

VMware

,

Miscellaneous Networking

,

Computer Servers

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: ryder0707Posted on 2009-10-07 at 00:15:40ID: 25512768

Yes just put vmnic2 as additional active adapter, esx will team outbound traffic for better performance
but to control inbound you still need configuration at physical switch

 

by: jjozPosted on 2009-10-07 at 00:17:23ID: 25512779

ok, so this means that the existing configuration is already optimal without having to invest in additional hardware ?

thanks for the reply.

 

by: ryder0707Posted on 2009-10-07 at 00:20:29ID: 25512794

yeah it is fine, unless you want to invest more, ofcoz you can further optimize
just put vmnic2 as additional active adapter, it will not only give your more bandwidth but making vSwitch0 redundant as well
cheers!

 

by: za_mkhPosted on 2009-10-07 at 00:28:31ID: 25512830

My preferred option is to  use LACP/Link Aggregation. So if you use a good L2/L3 switch, you can bond the links together (on the physical switch)so that they act as one link - slightly different to just putting both adaptors into active mode - In our case we bond three nics together for VM guest traffic so each esx/esxi host has 3GBPs bandwidth for guest traffic. Even if one link fails, things continue to work with no failover needed.

 

by: ryder0707Posted on 2009-10-07 at 00:33:55ID: 25512860

Btw i just checked 1800 series is not a dumb switch, you can aggregate inbound traffice as well using lacp

 

by: ryder0707Posted on 2009-10-07 at 00:35:37ID: 25512869

See here, 802.3ad is supported as well as jumbo frame to improve your iscsi performance
http://www.procurve.com/products/switches/HP_ProCurve_Switch_1800_Series/overview.htm

 

by: larstrPosted on 2009-10-07 at 06:33:25ID: 25515110

JJ,
The 1800 might not be a completely dumb switch, but you may have trouble getting good performance with it as it has very limited buffer space per port. I would avoid using it for such VM networks. Most important for good VM network performance would be to enable portfast (or disable STP) on these ports as the default settings will give you poor VM networking performance.

Lars

 

by: jjozPosted on 2009-10-07 at 16:35:46ID: 25521286

Thanks to all for the reply,

to Larstr, "Most important for good VM network performance would be to enable portfast (or disable STP)" how to enable it ? This switch doesn't have web interface and since i bought it I've never done anything fancy apart from plugging all the cables into it and it works till now :-)

 

by: larstrPosted on 2009-10-07 at 23:37:44ID: 25522727

The Procurve 1800 series switches do indeed have a web interface. I think it defaults to using dhcp so you should see it in the logs of your dhcp server.

Lars

 

by: larstrPosted on 2009-10-07 at 23:39:34ID: 25522733

Correction.. It's not using dhcp:

Q: What is the default IP address of the ProCurve 1800 Series Switches?
The default IP address is 192.168.2.10 with a 24 bit subnet mask(255.255.255.0). Further information about initial switch configurationis available in the Installation and Getting Started Guide.Q: What is the default IP address of the ProCurve 1800 Series Switches?
 The default IP address is 192.168.2.10 with a 24 bit subnet mask (255.255.255.0). Further information about initial switch configuration is available in the Installation and Getting Started Guide.

 

by: jjozPosted on 2009-10-25 at 04:30:49ID: 25656304

ok larstr,

Let me find a spare laptop and set the Static IP of that laptop as follows:

IP: 192.168.2.11
subnet mask (255.255.255.0)
Gateway & DNS: blank

hopefully i can access the web console and do the firmware upgrade while some of the device is conected into it.

Cheers.

 

by: jjozPosted on 2010-03-05 at 19:18:16ID: 31638065

Thanks for the idea guys.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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