CHAPTER 5Distributed Virtual Networking

Completely new to vSphere 4 is distributed virtual networking (DVN). On the surface, DVN is a project within VMware (sometimes called vNetwork) that enhances the network layer of the VMkernel. It introduces new features such as private VLANs, Network VMotion, and API support for third parties like Cisco to introduce their own vSwitch management tools. DVN also includes new features and initiatives such as VMDirectPath I/O (native access to the PCI bus) and new NIC drivers within the guest operating system using vmxnet3.sys.

One critical part of DVN is the distributed virtual switch (DvSwitch). This chapter covers how to create and configure DvSwitches for your ESX hosts.

What Are DvSwitches?

At the most ...

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