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ESX Server host requirements for link aggregation

The following concepts are utilized in a ESX network environment:

To accomplish network redundancy, load balancing, and fail-over:

Enable link aggregation (also known as Ether-Channel, Ethernet trunk, port channel, Multi-Link Trunking) on physical switch
Set up ESX Virtual Switch configuration to be compatible with above concepts

Note: For Ether-Channel sample configuration and more detailed information, see Sample configuration using Ether-Channel, ESX 3.x and a Cisco switch (1004048).

The following describes ESX link aggregation:

ESX host only supports NIC teaming on a single physical switch or stacked switches.
Link aggregation is never supported on disparate trunked switches.
The switch must be set to perform 802.3ad link aggregation in static mode ON and the virtual switch must have its load balancing method set to Route based on IP hash.
Enabling either Route based on IP hash without 802.3ad aggregation or vice-versa disrupts networking, so you must make the changes to the virtual switch first. That way, the service console is not available, but the physical switch management interface is, so you can enable aggregation on the ports involved to restore networking.
For more information on ESX networking concepts, see the Virtual Machine Networking Guide.
For more information on VLAN configuration for NIC teaming, see VLAN Configuration on Virtual Switch, Physical Switch, and Virtual Machines - ESX 3.x (1003806).
To configure NIC teaming on ESX and a physical switch, see Sample configuration of EtherChannel / Link aggregation with ESX 3.x and Cisco /HP switches (1004048).

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