Learn how to enable Jumbo Frames in VMWare. Our VMWare Support team is here to help you with your questions and concerns.

VMWare Enable Jumbo Frames | Guide

Did you know we can optimize performance by enabling Jumbo Frames?

It allows larger data packets to be transmitted. In other words, it reduces overhead and improves throughput.

Today, we are going to take a look at how to enable Jumbo Frames in virtual switches.

Jumbo Frames refer to Ethernet frames with a payload size larger than the standard 1500 bytes. By increasing the payload size, we need fewer frames to transmit the same amount of data. This reduces the overhead associated with packet processing.

This leads to better network performance when it involves large data transfers, like storage or vMotion operations.

How to Enable Jumbo Frames in Virtual Switches

To enable Jumbo Frames for all portgroups and ports in a vDS:

1. First, go to the distributed switch in the vSphere Web Client.
2. Then, access the Settings by clicking on the Actions tab.
3. Now, choose Edit Settings under Settings.
4. Next, go to the Advanced section and set the MTU property to a value greater than 1500 bytes. We can go up to a maximum of 9000 bytes.
5. Finally, click OK to apply the changes.

Similarly, we can configure Jumbo Frames for all portgroups and ports in a vSS:

1. First, go to the host in the vSphere Web Client.
2. Then, access Virtual Switches under the Configure tab.
3. Now, choose the desired virtual switch and click Edit.
4. Next, set the MTU value to 9000 and save the changes.

How to Configure VMkernel Ports

We can individually configure Jumbo Frames for certain VMkernels, like those dedicated to storage or vMotion:

1. First, go to the host in the vSphere Web Client.
2. Then, select VMkernel Adapters under the Configure tab.
3. Now, choose the VMkernel port we want to modify and click Edit.
4. Next, set the MTU value to 9000 and save the changes.

Testing and Verification

After Jumbo Frames are enabled, we have to verify connectivity and functionality. Here are some testing methods:

• Use the vmkping command to test connectivity from the local VMkernel port. Adjust the packet size accordingly to accommodate Jumbo Frames.

  For example:

  # vmkping -d -s 8972 x.x.x.x
• Use the esxcfg-vmknic command to create a VMkernel connection with Jumbo Frame support. Then, verify the configuration:

  For example,

  # esxcfg-vmknic -a -i ip_address -n netmask -m MTU port-group-name


With the above steps, we can enable and test Jumbo Frames in the virtualized environment.

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Conclusion

In brief, our Support Experts demonstrated how to enable Jumbo Frames in VMWare.