What are Switch Discovery Protocols

Switch discovery protocols allow vSphere administrators to determine which switch port is connected to a given vSphere standard switch or vSphere distributed switch.
vSphere 5.0 supports

• Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) CDP is available for vSphere standard switches and vSphere distributed switches connected to Cisco physical switches.
• Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). LLDP is available for vSphere distributed switches version 5.0.0 and later and is vendor neutral

When CDP or LLDP is enabled for a particular vSphere distributed switch or vSphere standard switch, you can view properties of the peer physical switch such as

• Device ID
• Software version
• Timeout from the vSphere Client

Enable Cisco Discovery Protocol on a vSphere Distributed Switch

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) allows vSphere administrators to determine which Cisco switch port connects to a given vSphere standard switch or vSphere distributed switch. When CDP is enabled for a particular vSphere distributed switch, you can view properties of the Cisco switch (such as device ID, software version, and timeout) from the vSphere Client.

Procedure

• Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view
• Right-click the vSphere distributed switch in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings
• On the Properties tab, select Advanced
• Select Enabled from the Status drop-down menu
• Select Cisco Discovery Protocol from the Type drop-down menu.
• Select the CDP mode from the Operation drop-down menu.

• Operation options are described below

Enable LLDP Discovery Protocol on a vSphere Distributed Switch

With Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), vSphere administrators can determine which physical switch port connects to a given vSphere distributed switch. When LLDP is enabled for a particular distributed switch, you can view properties of the physical switch (such as chassis ID, system name and description, and device capabilities) from the vSphere Client. LLDP is available only on vSphere distributed switch version 5.0.0 and later. It supports the standards based discovery protocol IEE 802.1AB

Procedure

• Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
• Right-click the vSphere distributed switch in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings.
• On the Properties tab, select Advanced.
• Select Enabled from the Status drop-down menu.
• Select Link Layer Discovery Protocol from the Type drop-down menu.

• Select the LLDP mode from the Operation drop-down menu.

View Switch Information on the vSphere Client

When CDP or LLDP is set to Listen or Both, you can view physical switch information from the vSphere Client.

Procedure

• Log in to the vSphere Client and select the host from the inventory panel.
• Click the Configuration tab and click Networking.
• Click the information icon to the right of the vSphere standard switch or vSphere distributed switch to display information for that switch.
• Switch information for the selected switch appears.