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When adding 4 or more VMXNET3 NICs to a VLM in VMware, the order is wrong

Updated: 

When adding 4 or more VMXNET3 Network Interface Controllers (NICs) to a Virtual LoadMaster (VLM) in VMware, the order of the interfaces on the Web User Interface (WUI) does not correspond with the order of the interfaces in machine setting, for example:

NIC 1: eth2
NIC 2: eth1
NIC 3: eth3
NIC 4: eth0

This order has been observed in all cases. It does not matter if the NICs are added before licensing or if they are added later.

eth0 always corresponds to NIC4.

This behaviour does not affect e1000 NICs.

This is a VMware issue and nothing to do with the KEMP LoadMaster. For further information, please refer to the following articles:

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/443600

http://vnetwise.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/howto-force-vmware-esxi-to-re-order-nic-ports-to-maintain-standards/

 

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software

A date on this article would be of great help - as the VM article referenced dates back to 2013 - so no confirmation if this issue still exists today in 2018 with vsphere 6.5 U1

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Nick Smylie

@software

Double checked myself on Vsphere 6.5 and this is still the case. Unfortunately this is a VMware issue and I could not find any new relevant articles on this.

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rwashburn

I have VMware 6.7, its Aug 2019 and this issue is still there. I actually cannot add more than 4 NICS to the LB.

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Justin Federico

@rwashburn

We understand your frustration with this issue, but as previously stated in the article, this is a VMware issue that they have not addressed. Based on the SR you submitted, another option would be configuring a trunk on the VMware side and creating the VLANS on the LM. This would require less NICs on the LM and our team would be happy to assist in getting this configured.