How to Enable 802.1x For Vmware on Multiple machines

[hitesh.hada10@gmail.com]

I have vmware where multiple machines are connected , i want to enable 802.1x authentication for all machines , how i can do this?

[Damien Miller · Accepted solution]

If the VM's are bridged and not nated, then this is a dependency on the switch interface config. You can leverage "dot1x host-mode multi-auth" to authenticate every mac address separately. You can then configure the supplicants within the VM's for dot1x, or leave them alone and authenticate the vm's by MAB.

[Arne Bier]

Another possibility is to check whether Nexus1000v can help you out there.  This is an alternative for the standard VMWare virtual distributed switch. Of course this is not at all free or without setting up vCenter etc.  Nexux1000v gives your 802.1X and TrustSec among others - it's like having a Cat6500 in your vSphere setup.

[Damien Miller]

Good call, I didn't even realize those features had made it out of beta. I just remember the 1000v and 6.5 controversy and scramble. Looks sorted now. Had to go look up the docs.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus1000/sw/5_x/security_config/b_Cisco_N1KV_VMware_Security_Config_5x.html

[Arne Bier]

Cisco seems to have an answer to almost any customer requirement ;-)