How to Configure Redundant vNIC Interfaces for a VMware ESX Host Connected to Oracle Fabric Interconnects (Formerly Xsigo) Chassis

Asset ID:	1-71-1526063.1
Update Date:	2017-08-01
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1526063.1 : How to Configure Redundant vNIC Interfaces for a VMware ESX Host Connected to Oracle Fabric Interconnects (Formerly Xsigo) Chassis

Applies to:

Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-4 - Version All Versions and later
Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-15 - Version All Versions and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

Learn how to configure redundant vNIC interfaces for ESX/ESXi hosts.

Solution

VMware ESX/ESXi hosts provide redundant network interfaces using a feature called "vnic teaming". The HA vNIC capability provided by the Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis is NOT supported by VMware ESX hosts. Configure multiple interfaces on the Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis and present those to the ESX host. The native vnic teaming feature on the ESX host will provide load balancing, redundancy, and failover across the interfaces.

- The failover of the interface is handled by the ESX host using vnic teaming.

NOTE: Configure load balancing on the vswitch using "Route based on the originating virtual port ID". No other load balancing algorithm is supported by OVN.

- Configure multiple vNIC interfaces on the VP780 chassis (example below).

HA vNIC is NOT supported by a VMware ESX host. The multiple vNIC interfaces can be configured on a single Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis or spread across multiple Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis. However, vNIC configuration on a single chassis is possible but unlikely because the Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis may become a single point of failure. vNIC configuration across two Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis provides better redundancy characteristics.

- Single chassis configuration:

single_chassis# add vnic <vnic_name_1> <first io_port>

single_chassis# add vnic <vnic_name_2> <second io_port>

NOTE: Do not use the "ha" argument

NOTE: vNIC names need to be different.

NOTE: Local id numbers are not used for ESX/ESXi4.x or 5.x releases. The -local-id is a legacy ESX 3.5 artifact.

- Dual chassis configuration

chassis1# add vnic <vnic_name_1> <first io_port>

chassis2# add vnic <vnic_name_2> <second io_port>

NOTE: Do not use the "ha" argument when creating vnics for ESX/ESXi 4.x and 5.x hosts.

NOTE: vNIC names need to be different across two Oracle Fabric Interconnect chassis.

NOTE: Local id numbers are not used for ESX/ESXi4.x or 5.x releases. The -local-id is a legacy ESX 3.5 artifact.

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