VMWare ESX3i Cisco CDP protocol L2 overview
6 02 2008Cisco 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.
Using this information and without going to the server room and locating the network cable in the rack I was able to configure the interface on the switch real time.
The switchport should be set as trunk and for security reasons also configure the allowed vlan’s.
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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[...] area can help you find the right port on your Cisco switch; for details check my previous post. After I identified the port than I went back to the switch configuration and add the interface [...]