1. Articles
  2. Dedicated Servers
  3. Networking

Articles in this section

See more

How to Configure the Network on VMware ESXi with SCALE and HG Servers

Avatar
Stephanie Richards
  • Updated
Follow

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

To date, the documentation only covers the solution via the vRack.

This guide explains how to configure the network on VMware ESXi.

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

NOTE: On these server ranges, there are four network cards. The first two for the public, the last two for the private network. To get all the bandwidth, aggregates must be created.
NOTE: There's currently a known issue with the ESXi graphical user interface and performing these steps in the interface will result in a non-working configuration. It is absolutely necessary to apply this configuration using the command line interface in SSH.

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).

The values supplied in these commands (i.e. vmnic0, vmnic1, etc.) will vary, but you should get similar outputs to what is shown below.

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.

configESXiScaleHG01x.PNG

 

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.

configESXiScaleHG02.png

 

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

configESXiScaleHG03.PNG

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.

configESXiScaleHG04.png

 

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.

configESXiScaleHG05.png

Explanations

You need to:

  1. create the aggregate on the public vSwitch
  2. create the vSwitch for the vRack
  3. create a port group
  4. create VMs using the new port group as the network interface.

Configure ESXi

You will need to follow the next steps in command mode (shell) instead of the ESXi GUI.

1. Creating 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.

configESXiScaleHG06.png

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.

configESXiScaleHG07.png

 

2. Creating 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:

configESXiScaleHG08.png

 

3. Creating 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. VM configuration

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

esxibridge4.png

 

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

configESXiScaleHG09.png

 

Move your IP range to your vRack.

configESXiScaleHG10.png

 

Once completed, it should look like this.

configESXiScaleHG11.png

 

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.

NOTE: When you purchase your IP block, you will receive an email notifying you of the subnet mask to use.

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.

 

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

Related articles