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ESX: Create port groups and assign VLANs with esxcfg-vswitch

Originally published Last updated 2 comments

If you need to create five or more virtual port groups on a vSwitch and prefer not to use the VI client, log in to the Service Console and run the following commands.

Create a virtual port group:

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esxcfg-vswitch -A NAME-TO-GIVE vSwitch0

Assign a specific VLAN to the port group:

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esxcfg-vswitch -v VLANID -p PORTGROUP vSwitch0

With these two commands in a shell script, I created the same networking configuration on a dozen ESX servers:

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[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN282 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN283 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN284 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN285 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN299 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -A VLAN220 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 282 -p VLAN282 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 283 -p VLAN283 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 284 -p VLAN284 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 285 -p VLAN285 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 299 -p VLAN299 vSwitch0
[root@ESX-02 root]# esxcfg-vswitch -v 220 -p VLAN220 vSwitch0

Command reference

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esxcfg-vswitch [options] [vswitch[:ports]]
  -a|--add              Add a new virtual switch.
  -d|--delete           Delete the virtual switch.
  -l|--list             List all the virtual switches.
  -L|--link=pnic        Set pnic as an uplink for the vswitch.
  -U|--unlink=pnic      Remove pnic from the uplinks for the vswitch.
  -M|--add-pg-uplink    Add an uplink to the list of uplinks for a portgroup
  -N|--del-pg-uplink    Delete an uplink from the list of uplinks for a portgroup
  -p|--pg=portgroup     Specify a portgroup for operation
                        Use ALL to set VLAN IDs on all portgroups
  -v|--vlan=id          Set vlan id for portgroup specified by -p
                        0 would disable the vlan
  -c|--check            Check to see if a virtual switch exists.
                        Program outputs a 1 if it exists, 0 otherwise.
  -A|--add-pg=name      Add a new portgroup to the virtual switch.
  -D|--del-pg=name      Delete the portgroup from the virtual switch.
  -C|--check-pg=name    Check to see if a portgroup exists.  Program
                        outputs a 1 if it exists, 0 otherwise.
  -B|--set-cdp          Set the CDP status for a given virtual switch.
                        To set pass one of "down", "listen", "advertise", "both".
  -b|--get-cdp          Print the current CDP setting for this switch.
  -m|--mtu=MTU          Set MTU for the vswitch. 
  -r|--restore          Restore all virtual switches from the configuration file
                        (FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY).
  -h|--help             Show this message.

2 comments

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  2. Celia

    My OS is ESXi 5.5 and is using web client to mange the host. I can list out the new portgroup by "esxcfg-vswitch -l" but I can't see the new port group from web client. I refresh the web client several times and it still get nothing. Please help.