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How to Create a Port Profile for Virtual Network Adapters in VMM

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

In Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) in System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and System Center 2012 R2, you can consistently configure identical capabilities for network adapters across multiple hosts by using port profiles and logical switches. Port profiles and logical switches act as containers for the properties or capabilities that you want your network adapters to have. Instead of configuring individual properties or capabilities for each network adapter, you can specify the capabilities in port profiles and logical switches, which you can then apply to the appropriate adapters.

Important

For information about prerequisites and settings for port profiles and logical switches, see the “Settings” section in Configuring Ports and Switches for VM Networks in VMM. It is especially important to review the prerequisites if you plan to enable virtual machine queue (VMQ), IPsec task offloading, or single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) in your port profile for virtual network adapters.

The recommended sequence for creating port profiles and logical switches is to create the port profiles first.

Use the following procedure to create a port profile for virtual network adapters.

To create a port profile for virtual network adapters

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Show group, click Fabric Resources.

  3. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click one of the following:

    • For System Center 2012 SP1: Native Port Profiles

    • For System Center 2012 R2: Port Profiles

  4. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create, and then click one of the following:

    • For System Center 2012 SP1: Native Port Profile

    • For System Center 2012 R2: Hyper-V Port Profile

    The wizard for creating port profiles opens.

  5. On the General page, enter a name and optional description for the port profile, click Virtual network adapter port profile, and then click Next.

  6. On the Offload Settings page, optionally select one or more of the following settings, and then click Next. For more information about the settings listed in this step or the next step, in Configuring Ports and Switches for VM Networks in VMM, in the “Settings” section, see the “Native port profile for virtual network adapters” row in the table.

    • Enable virtual machine queue

    • Enable IPsec task offloading

    • Enable Single-root I/O virtualization

  7. On the Security Settings page, optionally select one or more of the following settings, and then click Next.

    • Allow MAC spoofing

    • Enable DHCP guard

    • Allow router guard

    • Allow guest teaming

    • Allow IEEE priority tagging

    With System Center 2012 R2, you can also select the following setting:

    • Allow guest specified IP addresses (only available for virtual machines on Windows Server 2012 R2)

  8. On the Bandwidth Settings page, optionally specify bandwidth settings for the virtual network adapter.

    • Minimum bandwidth (Mbps): Specify the minimum bandwidth here in megabits per second (Mbps), or use the Minimum bandwidth weight option (described later in this list).

    • Maximum bandwidth (Mbps): Specify the maximum bandwidth, using a value no greater than 100,000 Mbps. A value of 0 Mbps means the maximum is not configured.

    • Minimum bandwidth weight: Specify a weighted value from 0 to 100 that controls how much bandwidth the virtual network adapter can use in relation to other virtual network adapters.

    Note

    Bandwidth settings are not used when SR-IOV is enabled on the port profile and on the logical switch that specifies the port profile.

  9. On the Summary page, review and confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

See Also

Configuring Ports and Switches for VM Networks in VMM
Configuring Networking in VMM