Set up trunk between ESXi 4.1 NICs and Cisco 3550 switch Ports

[Jay Matrona]

Hi Community

I have 3 VLANS configured on a single vSwitch in the ESXi host.  That vSwitch is using two NICs (nic1/nic3). How do I configure the Cisco ports and the NIC Teaming under the vswitch to pass tagged and untagged traffic?  I have tried to set up port-channels and configure the ports for trunking, but as soon as i do, I lose connectivity to the ESX server.

Thanks!

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi Jay,

Since you are NIC teaming on the server you need to do portchannel with LACP on the switch site.  Then configure the physical and portchannel as trunks.

HTH

[gerald.suiza]

ESX does not support LACP. You will need to configure your portchannel to "mode on". Here is a extensive document that may help you in setting up the switch.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Data_Center/vmware/VMware.html