VC 4.01, Min/Max Network and VMware Network I/O Control

[gillinghamsteve]

Hoping someone can help me work this one out!

BL460C Gen8 Blades, 554 FLB and Flex10D modules with 4.01 FW update

4FlexNICs in use, 1a,2a,1b,2b

1a/2a set at custom speed 4Gb to 10Gb, carries multiple networks

1b/2b set at custom speed 6Gb to 10Gb, carries multiple networks

No global default min/max speeds set

All FlexNICS report to ESXi at 10Gb, not the 4Gb/6Gb minimum value set.

Using vSphere Enterprise Plus, and I want to use the proportional share mechanism of Network IO control to limit vMotion traffic to no more than 25% of the 1a/2a 4Gb connection when network traffic is congested. 

How will this work when the adapter reported at 10Gb? I think network usage at the VMware layer will be reported against the 10Gb network speed and not the actual link speed (somewhere between 4Gb and 10Gb depending on load of 1b/2b) so Network IO Control congestion will never be detected?

We don't have QoS on upstream switches, so can't tag traffic for prioritisation. I know we could use limits, but for something like vMotion we only want the limit to appy if network is congestered, the perfect use case for Network IO Control shares.

Thanks a lot for any thoughts

Steve