Managing Network Adapter Associations

Manage Network Adapter Associations

Procedure

1. Select the virtual network or the host for which you want to view and manage the associations from the View pane and click Connectivity > Manage NIC Associations from the Tasks pane.

   The Manage NIC Associations page opens. Table 185 describes the fields in this page.

   Table 185: Manage NIC Associations page Field Descriptions

   Field	Description
   Network Adapter Name	Network adapter of the host to which the virtual switch is connected.
   MAC Address	MAC address of the host.
   Physical Switch	IP address or the name of the physical switch to which the virtual switch is connected.
   Physical Switch Port	Number of the physical switch port to which the virtual switch is connected.
   Discovered Through	Displays how the association was discovered: LLDP—Indicates that the association was automatically discovered by Network Director, using LLDP. Manual—Indicates that the association was manually configured, using the Import Associations feature. For detailed steps for importing network adapter associations, see Configure Network Adapter Associations. Blank—Indicates that the association was not discovered or was deleted.
   Virtual Switch	Name assigned to the virtual switch. If it is a standalone virtual switch, then the hostname on which the virtual switch resides is also displayed.

Configure Network Adapter Associations

Network Director does not automatically discover or display virtual network adapter to physical network adapter associations if LLDP is not enabled on the physical switch and the virtual switch. In this scenario, you can identify the connection details outside of Network Director by doing one of the following:

• Use the Edit Association window from the Manage Network Adapter Associations page to edit individual associations.
• Use the Import Network Adapter Associations page to import one or more associations into Network Director to establish these associations manually.

Procedure

1. Select Cloud Infrastructure in the View pane.
2. To edit individual associations, from the Manage Network Associations page, select a row and click Edit Association.
3. in the Edit Associations window, select the hostname of the physical switch and the switch port to which you want the selected virtual network adapter to be connected to.
4. Click Update to save the details and update the Manage Network Adapter Associations table.

Procedure

1. Select Cloud Infrastructure in the View pane.
2. In the Manage Network Associations page, click Import Network Adapter Associations. The Import Network Adapter Associations page opens.
3. Click Browse and select the CSV file in which you have specified the network adapter associations that you want to import.

   You can download a sample CSV file by clicking Download Sample CSV.

Network Director imports the associations after checking the connectivity and changes the status of the successful associations to Manual in the Manage Network Adapter Associations page.

Set Up the Devices for LLDP-Based Automatic Link Discovery

Procedure

1. Log in to the switch, that is directly connected to the ESXi server in your vCenter based data center network, by using the CLI.
2. Configure the port ID type, length, and value (TLV) by running the following command:
   [edit]
user@switch# set protocols lldp port-id-subtype interface-name
3. Only for QFabric Systems, Virtual Chassis, and Virtual Chassis Fabrics that are connected to the vCenter based data center network, set the LLDP management address by running the following command in the configuration mode:
   [edit]
user@switch# set protocols lldp management-address IP-address

   IP-address is the management address of the QFabric system, Virtual Chassis, or the Virtual Chassis Fabric system .

4. Commit your changes.

   The physical device that is directly connected to the ESXi server starts advertising their respective management address through LLDP.

5. Resynchronize the virtual network from Network Director. For more information about resynchronizing virtual networks, see Managing Cloud Infrastructure.

   Network Director uses the information advertised by the physical device for autodiscovery of links between the physical device and the hosts.

Export Network Adapter Associations

You can export network associations to Microsoft Excel and make modifications outside Network Director and later import the modified associations into Network Director. Exporting network adapter associations are also beneficial if you were to reinstall Network Director. In case of a reinstallation, you would have to configure all the manual associations after reinstalling Network Director. To save this trouble, you can export the network adapter associations before uninstalling Network Director and import the associations once Network Director is reinstalled.

Procedure

1. Select the virtual network or the host for which you want to view and manage the associations from the View pane and click Connectivity > Manage Network Adapter Associations from the Tasks pane.
2. Click Export Associations.

   Network Director exports the network adapter associations. Save the file to a location of your choice. Modify the file if required, and import the associations back into Network Director. For detailed steps for importing network adapter associations, see Configure Network Adapter Associations.

Delete Network Adapter Associations

You can delete the network adapter associations that you no longer want to use, from the Manage Network Adapter Associations page.

Procedure

1. Select the row corresponding to the network adapter association that you want to delete and click Delete Association.
2. Confirm the deletion.

   Network Director deletes the selected association.

Related Documentation

• Understanding Virtual Network Management
• Network Director Documentation home page