HVM management interface on openvswitch

wmaslanka — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:15:30 GMT

Is it possible to migrate hvm management interface form "kernel" bond to openvswitch? I would like to use one openvswitch with balance-slb form management and VM trafic.

Now i have two bonds. First (kernel - balance-tlb ) for management - bond0, second (openvswitch - balance-slb) for vms traffic - bond9.

I would like to migrate managemt interface with vlan from bond0.10 to i.e. bond9.10 (openvswitch).

Regards!

Re: HVM management interface on openvswitch

CalvinZito — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:39:05 GMT

I asked my Copilot notebook your question and basically, what you want to do isn't documented in the documentation (my notebook is based on v9.0.1). Here's what it says:

Yes, it is technically possible on Linux/KVM hosts to place the management VLAN on an Open vSwitch uplink instead of a kernel bond, but this is not currently a documented HPE Morpheus VM Essentials migration procedure. The HVM networking documentation only requires that the OVS bridge be backed by a host interface (physical NIC, bond, or VLAN interface) and does not specifically describe migrating the host management interface between a kernel bond and an OVS bond after deployment.

A few points to consider:

The HVM Network Plugin supports OVS-backed networking and OVS Bridge Domains that can use bonded interfaces as uplinks. The selected uplink interface must exist consistently across all hosts in the cluster.
The ArubaCX integration examples show management networks using a traditional Linux bond (bond0) in active-backup mode, which is the documented reference architecture for host management connectivity.
There is no documented workflow that migrates host management from bond0.10 to an OVS-backed interface such as bond9.10, nor a statement that this configuration is officially supported. I could not find guidance covering live migration of the cluster management interface between bonding technologies.

If you're planning to move management traffic to an OVS bond:

Verify the OVS bond exists and is operational on all cluster hosts.
Ensure the management VLAN interface can be created on the OVS bridge and tested out-of-band before removing the existing management path.
Perform the change host-by-host with console access available, since loss of management connectivity could make the host unreachable.
Confirm Morpheus still discovers the expected interfaces after the change, as host interface discovery is used by networking functions and worker onboarding.

So the short answer is: it may work from a Linux/Open vSwitch perspective, but it is not a documented or explicitly supported VM Essentials migration scenario today. I would recommend opening a support case before making the change in a production HVM cluster.

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HVM management interface on openvswitch

Re: HVM management interface on openvswitch