How to create VLANs within a Virtual Switch in VMware ESXi

8/10/2019 How to create VLANs within a Virtual Switch in VMware ESXi

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Author: Rusty Hann

URL: www.rustyhann.com

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How to Create VLANs Within a Virtual Switch in VMware ESXi

I am not responsible for your actions or their outcomes, in any way, while

reading and/or implementing this tutorial. I will not provide support for the

information herein. If you do not understand something, figure it out on your

own. If you need help figuring it out, use Google to solve your problems.

Introduction

VLANs in ESXi allow you to create disparate networks on the same virtual switch in VMware.

They also allow you to connect a virtual switch, with the proper VLAN ID, to a physical switch that has

the same VLAN ID assigned to it. Proper VLAN configuration on the physical switch is absolutely

necessary to have physical hosts on a VLAN communicate with virtual hosts within the ESXi virtualization

environment.

This tutorial will cover two topics. The first portion of this tutorial will cover how to properly

setup a Cisco switch to pass VLAN traffic to the ESXi hypervisor. The second portion of this tutorial will

cover how to create a VLAN within an ESXi virtual switch and properly set switch characteristics to

successfully receive and transmit VLAN traffic within the virtual and physical networking environments.

For further information, refer to VMware Knowledge Base article located (at the time of this writing) at

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=

1004074


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Steps

1. Start at the Inventory screen of the vSphere client.

NOTES:


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3. Click the Add button.

NOTES: The NIC teaming policy is set to its default value of, "Route based on originating virtual port ID",and will not be addressed in this tutorial.


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4. Ensure the Connection Type Virtual Machine is selected and click the Next button.

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5. Give the VLAN a Network Label and VLAN ID, then click the Next button.

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6. Click the Finish button.

NOTES: You should see the VLAN you created under the Virtual Machine Port Group of the vSwitch you

are working with.


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Wrap Up

Take note of the new Network Label included with, in this example, vSwitch0. Traffic originating

on VLAN ID 100, from a physical host, will be passed through switch and physical NIC, tagged with the

appropriate VLAN ID (100), and then passed to the appropriate virtual machine located on Virtual

Machine Port Group "Test" with VLAN ID 100. This will hold true for any traffic originating on any VLAN,

as long as the physical switch and virtual switch are properly setup.

NOTES: The, "Main", Virtual Machine Port Group is still present. This can be deleted if desired.

Deleting the Virtual Machine Port Group, "Main", will not affect VLAN traffic nor improve performance.

I usually do not delete the, "Main", port group.


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Troubleshooting

Ensure the physical switch is properly configured

Ensure the uplink to the server hosting the ESXi hypervisor is set to trunk mode

Ensure traffic is not being mistakenly passed on the native VLAN of the physical switch

Ensure your VLAN IDs match

Ensure physical connectivity is correct

Ensure the physical NIC is assigned to the correct virtual switch

Ensure the network settings of the virtual machine(s) are correct (IP Address, default gateway,

subnet mask, etc.)

Ensure Inter-VLAN routing is correctly setup if present

I am not responsible for your actions or their outcomes, in any way, while

reading and/or implementing this tutorial. I will not provide support for the

information herein. If you do not understand something, figure it out on your

own. If you need help figuring it out, use Google to solve your problems.

How to create VLANs within a Virtual Switch in VMware ESXi

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