VMware ESXi online course

Standard vSwitch basics

Uplinks, port groups, and why management and VM traffic share a switch in small labs.

A standard vSwitch is a software switch on one host. Uplinks are physical NICs. Port groups are named networks that VMs attach to. VLAN IDs on a port group must match the trunk on the physical switch.

A default install gives you vSwitch0, a management port group, and a VM Network. That is enough for a lab. In production you separate management, vMotion, and VM traffic on purpose — different uplinks or at least different VLANs.