Differences in supported networking features between ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3

This article outlines the differences in supported networking features between ESX 2.5 and ESXi 3.

Some networking features, primarily those requiring configuration through the service console, are not fully available in ESXi 3.

The following features available in ESX 3.5 have limited availability in ESXi 3:

Note: See the ESX 3.5 Release Notes for detailed explanations of each feature.

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)

For ESXi 3 and ESX 3.5, CDP is enabled by default and enables the VirtualCenter and the VMware Infrastructure Client GUID to identify the physical switch's properties such as switch name, port number, port speed/duplex settings, and so on.

On ESX 3.5 only, it is possible to configure CDP so that information about the physical NIC (vmnic) name and ESX host names are passed upward to Cisco switches. This configuration is not supported on ESXi 3.
Jumbo Frames

For ESX 3.5, jumbo frames are supported in both the guest operating system and in the ESX kernel TCP/IP stack. While ESXi 3 supports jumbo frames in the guest operating system, it does not include support for jumbo frames in the ESX kernel TCP/IP stack.
NetQueue

NetQueue, a performance technology for 10 Gigabit Ethernet virtual environments supported on ESX 3.5, is not supported on ESXi 3.
NetFlow

NetFlow support in ESX 3.5 is experimental and is unavailable in ESXi 3. For more information, see Enabling NetFlow on Virtual Switches.
InfiniBand

InfiniBand Host Channel Adapters (HCAs) from Mellanox Technologies are not supported on ESXi 3.

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