Managing Network Adapter Associations
Network Director enables you to configure and view the connectivity or association between a host network adapter and the corresponding physical network adapter on the physical switch. If LLDP is enabled on the physical switch and the virtual switch, Network Director automatically discovers and displays the host network adapter to physical network adapter connection. However, if LLDP is not enabled, you must manually configure these connections by importing the connection details in to Network Director.
You can automate orchestration using Network Director only if the host to physical switch connectivity is established. Using the Manage Physical Switch Association table, you can view the connectivity between a host network adapter and a physical switch port. You can also view the virtual switch that is bound to the given host network adapter. If any of the host network adapters is not connected to a corresponding the physical switch port, then follow the steps mentioned in Configure Network Adapter Associations to manually configure network adapter associations.
After you make any change to the network adapter association, Network Director initiates an orchestration job, if orchestration is enabled for the given virtual network.
You can do the following tasks to manage network adapter associations:
Manage Network Adapter Associations
To view and manage the host associations:
- 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.
The Manage Network Adapter Associations page opens. Table 1 describes the fields in this table:
Table 1: Manage Physical Switch Associations
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 that 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 on 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 and 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 and do 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.
To manually configure individual network associations:
- Select Virtual Networks in the View pane.
- To edit individual associations, from the Manage Network Associations page, select a row and click Edit Association.
- in the Edit Associations window, select the host name of the physical switch and the switch port to which you want the selected virtual network adapter to be connected to.
- Click Update to save the details and update the Manage Network Adapter Associations table.
To manually configure multiple network associations:
- Select Virtual Networks in the View pane.
- Click Connectivity > Import Network Adapter Associations from the Tasks pane. The Import Network Adapter Associations page opens.
- 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 button.
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.
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.
 | Note: You cannot delete LLDP associations that are automatically created by Network Director. |
To delete a network adapter association:
- Select the row corresponding to the network adapter association that you want to delete and click Delete Association.
- Confirm the deletion.
Network Director deletes the selected association.
