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I have a Vmware ESXi 5.5.0 hypervisor, installed on a desktop pc with 3 physical NICs. The first NIC is connected to the internet (WAN), the 2nd and 3rd NICs have Access Points installed (plugged in) to them. I would like to create a single network above them, in which all devices can connect to each other, and install a Windows server, that would connect to the internet and distribute internet among the virtual machines I install on the server, and the 2 APs. The issue is that no matter what settings I try in the ESX network configuration, I cannot team or bridge the 2nd and 3rd NIC to the first one. The result is that the virtual machines can get internet from a Windows server, if I set them up to be on the same vSwitch, but the 2 APs are not getting a DHCP, or cannot ping the Windows server. Is there a way to connect these 3 NICs using only this machine, and virtual machines on it to combine the 3 networks, and make them accessible for each other?

igy
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This is a bit of a mess and not a good application for VMware ESXi. A physical router/firewall and switch would be the better way to approach this.

However, you can create multiple vswitches.

  • vswitch0 could contain the public-facing network uplink and the public interface (vnic) of the Windows server.

  • vswitch1 could have the private interface of the Windows server, as well as the vnics of the other VMs you wish to have on the local "network".

  • vswitch1 should also have the other two physical NICS added to it as uplinks. You'd connect the access points to these.

For your Windows server, you need to have Routing and Remote Access features installed and ideally provide DHCP other other services on its private vnic.

ewwhite
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  • Thanks for the help! We cannot add any new physical devices to the network. We have set up a solution like this in the first place, and the issue is, that the access points connected, cannot get a DHCP address. Other machines on vswitch1 do get an IP address via DHCP, but the two access points fail to get an IP address, also the DHCP server cannot be pinged from them, it looks like, that something in ESX is blocking the communication between vswitch1 and the two physical NICS, and the access points attached to them. – igy Oct 22 '14 at 10:04