Configure a vMotion interface using vSphere Client
To configure a vMotion Interface:
- Log into the vCenter Server using vSphere Client.
- Click to select the host.
- Click the Configuration tab.
- Click Networking under Hardware.
- Click Add Networking.
- Select VMkernel and click Next.
- Select the existing vSwitch, or select Create a vSphere standard switch to create a new vSwitch and clickNext.
- Enter a name in the Network Label to identify the network that vMotion uses.
- Select a VLAN ID from the VLAN ID (Optional) dropdown if applicable.
- Select Use this port group for vMotion and click Next.
- Enter the IP address and Subnet Mask of the host’s vMotion Interface.
- Click Next, then click Finish.Note: For multiple hosts, repeat steps 2 to 12. Use a unique IP address for each host vMotion interface.
Configure a vMotion interface using vSphere Web Client:
- In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the Host.
- Under Manage, select Networking and then select VMkernel adapters.
- Click Add host networking.
- On the Select connection type page, select VMkernel Network Adapter and click Next.
- On the Select target device page, select either an existing standard switch or a New vSphere standard switch.
- On the Port properties, enable vMotion Traffic and select Next.
- Configure network for the vMotion VMkernel interface and click Next.
- Review the settings and click Finish.
vSphere vMotion Networking Requirements
Migration with vMotion requires a correctly configured vMotion network interface on both source and target hosts.
Configure each host with at least one vMotion network interface. To ensure secure data transfer, the vMotion network must be a secure network, accessible only to trusted parties. Because vMotion performance improves significantly with additional bandwidth, dedicate at minimum a physical 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) NIC to vMotion. As a best practice, provision at least one additional physical NIC as a failover NIC.
