VMware recommends using VirtualCenter and Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) for provisioning virtual switches. For more information, see the ESX Administration Guide.

For the purpose of troubleshooting or if you lack a GUI, the command line interface can be utilized to provision virtual switches.

This article provides commands for creating and modifying the VMkernel port.

• VMware vMotion
• iSCSI
• NFS

Note: VMware recommends using isolated network for iSCSI.

• Enable a VirtualNic to be used as the vMotion NIC.
• Enable and Disable vMotion via SSH connection without VirtualCenter (for ESX/ESXi 3.x use vmware-vim-cmd command)

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set [vnic]   

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk0  

Disabling vMotion Port: 

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_unset [vnic]

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_unset vmk0

vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/netconfig_get

The output appears similar to:

[root@esxserver root]# vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/netconfig_get

(vim.host.VMotionSystem.NetConfig) {

dynamicType = <unset>,

candidateVnic = (vim.host.VirtualNic) [

(vim.host.VirtualNic) {

dynamicType = <unset>,

device = "vmk0",

key = "key-vim.host.VirtualNic-vmk0",

portgroup = "ISCSI",

spec = (vim.host.VirtualNic.Specification) {

dynamicType = <unset>,

ip = (vim.host.IpConfig) {

dynamicType = <unset>,

dhcp = false,

ipAddress = "xx.xx.xx.xx",

subnetMask = "255.255.255.0",

},

mac = "xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx",

},

port = <unset>,

}

],

selectedVnic = <vim.host.VirtualNic:key-vim.host.VirtualNic-vmk0>,

}

Additional Information

• Español: Configurar un puerto VMkernel y habilitar vMotion a través de línea de comando (2035304)
  
• Português: Como configurar uma porta do VMkernel e habilitar o vMotion através de linha de comando (2037204)
  
• 日本語: コマンド ライン経由の VMkernel ポートの構成および vMotion の有効化 (2078641)
  
• 简体中文: 通过命令行配置 VMkernel 端口并启用 vMotion (2076602)