Configuring the network on VMware ESXi with SCALE and HG servers

Learn how to configure the network on VMware ESXi.

On the High Grade & SCALE ranges, it is not possible to manage additional IPs in bridged mode (via virtual MACs). Configuring additional IPs in routed mode or via the vRack is necessary.

Requirements

• A public block of IP addresses in your account, with a minimum of four addresses
• Your chosen private IP address range
• A vRack-compatible dedicated server connected to the appropriate vRack
• A vRack service activated in your account
• Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel

Instructions

Identify your vNICs

You will need to identify which NICs are public and which are private to complete the later steps in this guide. You will need to follow the next step in command mode (shell).

To begin, use the following command:

[root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network nic list

In the output displayed, focus on the NICs with a Link Status of "Up" and their MAC addresses, as shown in the example below.

Navigate to your OVHcloud Control Panel.

1. Select Bare Metal Cloud.
2. Click on the Dedicated Servers menu.
3. Select your server.
4. Click the Network Interfaces tab.

At the bottom of this screen, look at the list of Network Interfaces, focusing on the Type and MAC Address columns.

Compare these MAC addresses to those in the output in the previous step to determine which two NICs are public and which two are private.

In the examples in this guide:

• the public interfaces are vmnic0 and vmnic5;
• the private interfaces are on vmnic3 and vmnic4.

Additional IP via vRack

Original configuration

Use the following command to see the current status of your vSwitch

[root@ns1017852:~] esxcli network vswitch standard list

The output will show one of your public NICs in the Uplinks line.

Explanations

You need to:

1. Create the aggregate on the public vSwitch
2. Create the vSwitch for the vRack
3. Create a port group for the new vSwitch for vRack
4. Create a VMKernal NIC
5. Change the NIC teaming Load balancing setting
6. Create VMs using the new port group as the network interface

Configure ESXi

1. Create the aggregate in LACP mode on the vSwitch that carries the public interfaces.

   Use the following commands:

   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic5 --vswitch-name=vSwitch0
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -l iphash -v vSwitch0
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vSwitch0

   The output should show both of your public NICs in the Standby Adapters line.

   

   Then use the following commands:

   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -a vmnic0 -v vSwitch0
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vSwitch0

   The output should show one of the public NICs as Active.

   

2. Create vSwitch and vRack aggregation on private interfaces.

   Use the following commands:

   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard add --vswitch-name=vRackvSwitch
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic3 --vswitch-name=vRackvSwitch
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic4 --vswitch-name=vRackvSwitch
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -l iphash -v vRackvSwitch
   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vRackvSwitch

   The output will show your private NICs as Standby Adapters:

   

3. Create a port group for the new “vRackvSwitch” vSwitch.

   Use the following command:

   [root@ns1011868:~] esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add --portgroup-name=portgroupvRackvSwitch --vswitch-name=vRackvSwitch

4. Create VMKernal NIC with the following settings:

   • Port group: portgroupvRackvSwitch
   • MTU: 9000
   • IP version: IPv4 and IPv6

   Configure your private IP in the IPv4 settings area.

   

5. Open the settings for your vRack vSwitch. In the NIC teaming section, change the Load balancing setting to Route based on IP hash.

   

   You can also configure your Linux distribution to use Jumbo frames within the vRack. Jumbo frames are Ethernet frames with more than 1500 bytes of payload, and they can carry up to 9000 bytes of payload. Using them minimizes routing processing time and, in the case of vRack, optimizes traffic.

   • Check the MTU

     ip link show | grep mtu

   • Set your MTU size to 9000

     ip link set <interface name> mtu 9000

   • Apply the changes

     Edit the /etc/network/interface file and add the following lines (according to your situation) to it:

     For a DHCP-managed interface

     Auto <interface name>
     
     Iface <interface name> inet dhcp
     
       Pre-up /sbin/ip link set dev <interface name> up mtu 9000

     For a fixed IP interface

     Auto <interface name> iface <interface name> inet static mtu 9000

6. Configure the VM.

   The VMs must have the new portgroupvRackvSwitch port group in the network interface.

   

   From the OVHcloud Control Panel, click Network and vRack private network.

   

   Move your IP range to your vRack.

   

   Once completed, it should look like this.

   

Configure a usable IP address

In the case of vRack, the first address and the last two addresses in a given IP block are always reserved for the network address, its gateway, and its broadcast address respectively. This means that the first usable address is the second address in the block, as shown below:

46.105.135.96 # Reserved: network address
46.105.135.97 # First usable IP
46.105.135.98
46.105.135.99
46.105.135.100
46.105.135.101
46.105.135.102
46.105.135.103
46.105.135.104
46.105.135.105
46.105.135.106
46.105.135.107
46.105.135.108
46.105.135.109 # Last usable IP
46.105.135.110 # Reserved: network gateway
46.105.135.111 # Reserved: network broadcast

To configure the first usable IP address, you must edit the network configuration file as shown below. In this example, we use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.240.

The subnet mask used in this example is appropriate for our IP block. Your subnet mask may differ depending on the size of your block.

Additionally, in this example we are using ens18 for our interface name in this example. To check the name of your interface, use the ip add command.

You can learn more about configuring an Additional IP in a vRack in our dedicated guide.

Configuration example of a client VM on Debian

File contents /etc/network/interfaces:

auto lo ens18
iface lo inet loopback
iface ens18 inet static
    address 46.105.135.97
    netmask 255.255.255.240
    gateway 46.105.135.110

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Dedicated Servers support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.