VMware GSX Server 2.5.2

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Configuring Bridged Networking when Using Teamed Network Interface Cards on Your Host

Network adapter teaming (where two or more NICs work together as one and appear as a single, separate device) provides a GSX Server host with a level of network hardware fault tolerance. Should one physical network adapter fail, network traffic for the host and the virtual machines on the host can continue using the remaining network adapters in the team.

If your GSX Server host is configured to use teamed network interface cards, and you use bridged networking with your virtual machines, you need to adjust your network settings. You do this by binding the VMware Bridge Protocol to the teamed NIC, and unbind it from each individual, physical NIC on the host.

Note: VMware has not fully tested bridging of GSX Server virtual machines to host network adapter teams and such configurations are unsupported.

If you want a fully supported alternative for providing network adapter fault tolerance, use automatic bridging instead of using teamed network adapters on the host. See Configuring Bridged Networking Options on a Windows Host. This feature is available only on Windows hosts. When automatic bridging is enabled, the VMware VMnet0 virtual switch bridges to an automatically chosen host network adapter. Should the host show that the selected network adapter has become unavailable, VMnet0 bridges to remaining host network adapters that have the VMware bridge protocol bound to them.

Known Limitations

VMware has not tested network adapter teams with GSX Server on Linux hosts.
When using GSX Server on a Windows host with teamed network adapters and bridged networking, the VMware Bridge Protocol must be bound to the teamed network adapter and unbound from the individual physical network adapters. See the steps below.
Broadcom-based network adapters cannot be used with Smart Load Balancing (SLB) enabled. GSX Server bridged networking requires that the host network adapters be placed in promiscuous mode. However, Broadcom-based network adapters do not allow promiscuous mode when SLB is enabled. You must use the Generic Trunking option instead. This limitation is documented in the VMware Knowledge Base at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=822 and www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=895.
Receive load balancing should be disabled when using Intel teaming software. VMware has not tested all the modes provided by Intel teaming software.

Windows Host

Open the Windows Control Panel. Open Network Connections (Windows Server 2003 host), Network and Dial-up Connections (Windows 2000 host) or Network (Windows NT host).
To bind the VMware Bridge Protocol to the teamed NIC, do the following:
On a Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 host, right-click the teamed NIC device and choose Properties. Check VMware Bridge Protocol, then click OK to close the property sheet.
On a Windows NT host, click the Bindings tab. In the Show Bindings for list, select all protocols. Expand the VMware Bridge Protocol tree, select the teamed NIC and click Enable. Click OK to close the Network dialog box.
To unbind the VMware Bridge Protocol from each physical NIC that is being used for bridged networking, do the following:
On a Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 host, right-click the NIC device and choose Properties. Uncheck VMware Bridge Protocol, then click OK to close the property sheet.
On a Windows NT host, click the Bindings tab. In the Show Bindings for list, select all protocols. Expand the VMware Bridge Protocol tree, select the physical NIC and click Disable. Click OK to close the Network dialog box.

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