VMware ESX3i: identify Cisco switch ports with CDP

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) allows ESX Server 3 administrators to determine which Cisco switch port is connected to a given vSwitch. When CDP is enabled for a particular vSwitch, you can view properties of the Cisco switch (such as device ID, software version, and timeout) from the VI Client. You can use the service console command-line interface to enable CDP.

With this information, I could configure the switch interface in real time without going to the server room to locate the network cable in the rack.

The switch port should be configured as a trunk. For security reasons, also configure the allowed VLANs.

interface GigabitEthernet0/15
description ** ESX-01 Trunk port LAN **
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,200
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree portfast
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