VLAN configuration on virtual switches, physical switches, and virtual machines(1003806)

Purpose
This article describes the various VLAN tagging methods used with ESXi/ESX.

Virtual LAN (VLAN) implementation is recommended in ESXi/ESX networking environments because:
  • It integrates ESXi/ESX into a pre-existing network

  • It secures network traffic

  • It reduces network traffic congestion

  • iSCSI traffic requires an isolated network

Resolution
There are three methods of VLAN tagging that can be configured on ESXi/ESX:

External Switch Tagging (EST)


Virtual Switch Tagging (VST)

Note: The Native VLAN is not tagged and thus requires no VLAN ID to be set on the ESXi/ESX portgroup.

Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT)

  • All VLAN tagging is performed by the virtual machine.

  • You must install an 802.1Q VLAN trunking driver inside the virtual machine.

  • VLAN tags are preserved between the virtual machine networking stack and external switch when frames are passed to/from virtual switches.

  • Physical switch ports are set to trunk port.

  • For more information, see Sample configuration of virtual machine (VM) VLAN Tagging (VGT Mode) in ESX (1004252).

  • See this example snippet of code from a Cisco switch port configuration:

    switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
    switchport mode trunk
    switchport trunk allowed vlan x,y,z
    spanning-tree portfast trunk

For additional information on these configurations, see VMware ESX Server 3: 802.1Q VLAN Solutions.
Additional Information
For translated versions of this article, see:
Tags
esx esx-networking network-security
See Also
Update History
02/08/2013 - Added ESXi 5.x and vCenter Server 5.x to Products04/18/2013 - Added link to article 1003825  
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