What is a VMkernel interface?
The VMkernel network interface, adapter or port is basically a service provider used by the ESXi host to communicate with the outside world and the rest of the VMware based infrastructure. VMkernel adapters are created according to the type of services required by vMotion, Fault Tolerance, Management or perhaps vSAN.
What is VMkernel port and why it is important?
The VMkernel port is a virtual adapter; that is, it is a special device with which the vSphere host communicates with the outside world. Thus, any service at the second or third level is delivered to the vSphere host. The VMkernel Networking Layer allows you to connect to the host.
When should I use VMkernel ports?
VMkernel ports have important jobs to do and are vital for making sure that the vSphere host can be useful to the VMs….Port Properties and Services
- vMotion traffic.
- Fault tolerance (FT) logging.
- Management traffic.
- vSphere replication traffic.
- iSCSI traffic.
- NFS traffic.
What is provisioning VMkernel?
VMware Pages Use the provisioning TCP/IP stack to isolate traffic for cold migration, VM clones, and snapshots, and to assign a dedicated default gateway, routing table, and DNS configuration for this traffic. To enable the Provisioning TCP/IP stack, assign it a new VMkernel adapter.
How long should you keep a snapshot of a VM?
Do not use a single snapshot for more than 72 hours. The snapshot file continues to grow in size when it is retained for a longer period. This can cause the snapshot storage location to run out of space and impact the system performance.
How can I differentiate between virtual machine port group and VMkernel port?
The big difference between a Virtual Machine port group and a VMkernel port group is the type of traffic it is passing. As you can see, a VMkernel port is passing traffic specific to VMware vSphere. A virtual machine port group is just passing your garden variety virtual machine traffic.
What is vSphere used for?
VMware vSphere® uses the power of virtualization to transform data centers into simplified cloud computing infrastructures, enabling IT organizations to deliver flexible and reliable IT services. The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server®.
What is the difference between a VMkernel port and a VM Portgroup?
What is the purpose of port group?
Port groups allow us to logically carve up our virtual ports that are available on a particular vSwitch. We can apply traffic policy rules at the port group level – security rules and traffic shaping. Port groups are where we can also assign VLANs to our traffic.
Do snapshots slow down VM performance?
Snapshots can negatively affect the performance of a virtual machine. Performance degradation is based on how long the snapshot or snapshot tree is in place, the depth of the tree, and how much the virtual machine and its guest operating system have changed from the time you took the snapshot.
How many snapshots we can take?
Maximum of 32 snapshots are supported in a chain. However, for a better performance use only 2 to 3 snapshots. Do not use a single snapshot for more than 72 hours.