Switching VC uplinks from mapped mode to tunnel mode

[chuckk281]

Richard had a customer query:

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“We would like to switch some of our C7000 enclosures from Mapped mode to Tunnel mode for the Virtual connect setups.  The reason is that it is the VMware recommended option for ESXi.

Is there a way of avoiding downtime of the connected networks when this is done?”

Any suggestions are welcome.

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From Dan:

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As far as the original question goes, you cannot switch modes when the networks are in use, so the answer is no UNLESS you are on VC v3.30 and you have some free uplinks.
Then you could add a new uplink in tunnel mode and you would only have to take down 1 host at a time to change the network from Multiple Networks to the new tunnel.  With VMware clustering, that should be a lot less painful.

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Any other help for Richard's customer?