1810-24G, ESXi 5.1 standard vswitches, VLANs, Trunks

[Charles_Hanslow]

Hi,

I am a newbie to networking and vmware, so please forgive me if I use inappropriate terminology at atimes.  I have 4 x 1810-24G, connected to eachs other using simple straight-through cables:
SWITCH 1 (port 24) > (port 23) SWITCH 2
SWITCH 2 (port 24) > (port 23) SWITCH 3
SWITCH 3 (port 24) > (port 23) SWITCH 4
ALL THE ABOVE PORTS: no trunks, on the default VLAN - out the box config

SWITCH 2 (port 2) are connected to ESXi1 (NIC4)
SWITCH 2 (ports 11,13) are connected to ESXi1 NIC6, NIC7 respectively
SWITCH 2 (ports 12,14) are connected to HP P2000 G3 MSA (NIC0, NIC1) respectively

ESXi1 (NIC4) is bonded to a vSwitch and assigned to the only configured management vmkernel, VLAN (NONE)
ESXi1 (NIC6,NIC7) are bonded to the only vSwitch each assigned to their own vmkernel,  iSCSI bonding enabled on the only software storage adapter, VLAN (NONE)

Everything works fine set up as above.  There are two things I want to do:
1. Create a physical VLAN for the storage vSwitch NICs and HP P2000 G3 MSA
2. Bond ESXi (NIC6,NIC7) in static trunk1 and bond HP P2000 G3 MSA (NIC0, NIC1) in static trunk2

I have watched serveral youtube videos on this and cannot get it to work.

VLAN
I create a VLAN on SWITCH 2, ID = 41
Assign SWITCH 2 (ports 11,12,13,14) to VLAN 41, either as T or U
All other SWITCH 2 ports are on the default VLAN
<RESULT: FAIL>  Connectivity lost to ESXi1 (NIC 4), which is on SWITCH (port 2)

In the videos I watched this isn't supposed to happen.  If I put ANY port into the VLAN, even one that has no cable connected to it I lose connectivity to the host.  Funnily enough, I can ping the storage...

Trunks
I create trunk 1 with static capability enabled and assign SWITCH 2 (ports 11. 13)
I create trunk 2 with static capability enabled and assign SWITCH 2 (ports 12. 14)
The ESXi1 storage vSwitch's NIC Teaming is set to IP hash
<RESULT: FAIL>  Connectivity lost to ESXi1 (NIC4), which is on SWITCH (port 2)

In the videos I watched this isn't supposed to happen.  All of this seems so simple, and I have been over and over and over the steps.
Removing ESXi storage vSWitch SWITCH 2 (ports 11. 13) from trunk 1, connectivity is restored.  NOte! SWITCH 2 (ports 12, 14) are still assigned to tunk2 used by the SAN NICs, and while ESXi management connectivity is working the VMWare storage adapter paths to the SAN are dead.

What could I be doing wrong?

I have VMWare 5.1 Essentials so not using dvSwithces, all standard switches.

PLEASE HELP!!! I have wasted 2 days on this.

TIA,

Charles

P.S. This thread has been moved from Switching > ProCurve / ProVision-Basd to web & unmanaged forum. -HP Forum Moderator

[Vince_Whirlwind]

I doubt 1810s are an ideal choice for the data centre.

I don't see how your configuring of ports 11,12,13,14 causes you to lose connectivity on port 2. I don't see how it can be the switch causing this.

Static trunk v. IP Hash is definitely the right combination.

I'd be looking at your vSwitch. What are the VLAN configs (IP addressing, etc..). Are you sure you haven't mixed up your subnets and VLANs?