Opinions on my ESXi networking config

I

idea

Gawd
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
615
Hey guys,

I have an ESXi lab with "All in One" style setup. Since it is a test/dev lab, it is designed to be non-critical to the rest of the home LAN. PCs have Firewall,DHCP,DNS,etc served up by a small DDWRT-based wireless router device which has all routes from the ESXi network configured. So a PC at 192.168.1.100 can access a guest under ESXi at 10.0.0.100, for example.

Comments, criticisms? I am also very interested to introduce VLAN'ing but for some reason it's a difficult concept for me.

The ESXi server itself is sort of like it's own network within itself. It has (4) virtual switches configured:
  • WAN: pfSense is the only VM connected to WAN. VMkernel management is also on this switch. It is also the only vSwitch with actual physical NICs.
  • LAN: Network segment where all non-internet facing VM guests are connected to. Gateway is pfSense
  • DMZ: Network segment where all internet facing VM guests are connected to. Gateway is pfSense
  • Storage: VMkernel NFS storage connects to a virtualized NAS server. No gateway on this net

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I'm not following what connectivity you are needing from your ESX guests. Do they need internet access or just local access? Also, what access do your home pcs need to the esx server? Do any wireless clients need access to the ESX host or guests?
 
jimh425 said:
I'm not following what connectivity you are needing from your ESX guests. Do they need internet access or just local access? Also, what access do your home pcs need to the esx server? Do any wireless clients need access to the ESX host or guests?
Click to expand...

Yes ESX guests have access to internet. Wired and wireless PCs access Web, FTP, etc resources on the ESX guests
 
Wouldn't it be better to have the AP after the switch? Isn't the pfsense taking care of the routing?
 
rekd0514 said:
Wouldn't it be better to have the AP after the switch? Isn't the pfsense taking care of the routing?
Click to expand...

Mentioned in first post:
"Since it is a test/dev lab, it is designed to be non-critical to the rest of the home LAN. PCs have Firewall,DHCP,DNS,etc served up by a small Linksys-based wireless router device which has all routes from the ESXi network configured"
Click to expand...

The AP is built into the DDWRT-based wireless router.
 
I decided I am going to setup at least two VLANs, one for NAS traffic and one for VoIP traffic. Asterisk will go on VoIP VLAN and separate itself from all the NAS noise.
 
Maybe this is a better question for Virtualization subform, so I had it moved
 
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