vDS Setup using Host Profiles

Host Profiles is the recommended method for deploying a vDS over a large population of similarly configured hosts.

Considerations for using Host Profiles for Deploying vDS

• Target hosts must be in Maintenance Mode. This means all VMs must be powered off or migrated to other hosts.
• An ESX Host Profile can be applied to ESX and ESXi hosts. An ESXi Host Profile can only be applied to an ESXi Host. If you have a mix of ESX and ESXi hosts, then create the Host Profile from an ESX host. The Host Profile feature in vCenter Server is able to translate and apply the ESX Service Console definition to an ESXi VMkernel port for management access.

Process Overview

• Create vDS (without any associated hosts)
• Create Distributed Virtual Port Groups on vDS to match existing or required environment
• Add host to vDS and migrate vmnics to dvUplinks and Virtual Ports to DV Port Groups
• Delete Standard Switch from host
• Create Host Profile of Reference Host
• Place candidate host to have the profile applied in Maintenance Mode
• Attach and apply host profile to candidate hosts
• Migrate VM networking for VMs and take hosts out of Maintenance Mode.

Detailed Overview

For a more detailed description of the above steps read pages 24 to 28 of the document below from VMware

VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch: Migration and Configuration

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMW-Host-Profiles-Tech-Overview.pdf

Summary of Migration Methods

The table below summarizes the deployment situations and suggested methods for deployment of the vNetwork Distributed Switch:

Use Host Profiles to deploy vStorage Policies

You can configure storage options, including

• Native Multi-Pathing (NMP)
• Pluggable Storage Architecture (PSA)
• FCoE adapters
• iSCSI adapters
• NFS storage

Caveats

• Use the vSphere CLI to configure or modify the NMP and PSA policies on a reference host first, and then extract the host profile from that host. If you use the Profile Editor to edit the policies, to avoid compliance failures, make sure that you thoroughly understand interrelationships between the NMP and PSA policies and the consequences of changing individual policies. For information on the NMP and PSA, see the vSphere Storage documentation.
• Setting values for the Initiator IPv6 Address and Initiator IPv6 Prefix options in a host profile with independent hardware iSCSI adapters has no effect on the HBA because no independent iSCSi HBAs have IPv6 support.