Objective 2.4 – Administer vSphere Distributed Switch Settings

Knowledge - Describe the relationship between vDS and the vSS
vDS is short for “vNetwork Distributed Switch” and VSS is short for “Virtual Standard Switch”. VSS configuration and data is maintained on an individual host level where vDS configuration is saved in the vCenter database and a cached copy is maintained on each host. This cache is updated every 5 minutes. An ESXi 5 host can use both switch technologies at the same time for a “hybrid” implementation.

Skills and Abilities - Understand the use of command line tools to configure appropriate vDS settings on an ESXi host
There are only limited command line options for managing vDS, see all here VMware Commands Link

Here is an example of listing config,  then removing and re-adding an uplink

Skills and Abilities - Determine Use Cases For And Apply Port Binding Settings
VMware Link 
 

Static Binding – When you connect a virtual machine to a port group configured with static binding, a port is immediately assigned and reserved for it, guaranteeing connectivity at all times. The port is disconnected only when the virtual machine is removed from the port group. You can connect a virtual machine to a static-binding port group only through vCenter Server.

Note: Static binding is the default setting, recommended for general use.

Ephemeral Port Binding – In a port group configured with ephemeral binding, a port is created and assigned to a virtual machine by the host when the virtual machine is powered on and its NIC is in a connected state. The port is deleted when the virtual machine is powered off or the virtual machine's NIC is disconnected.

You can assign a virtual machine to a distributed port group with ephemeral port binding on ESX/ESXi and vCenter, giving you the flexibility to manage virtual machine connections through the host when vCenter is down. Although only ephemeral binding allows you to modify virtual machine network connections when vCenter is down, network traffic is unaffected by vCenter failure regardless of port binding type.

Note: Ephemeral port groups should be used only for recovery purposes when you want to provision ports directly on host bypassing vCenter Server, not for any other case.

Skills and Abilities - Configure Live Port Moving
The live port moving policy allows an active port to be migrated into a dvPortGroup without dropping the connection while acquiring the settings of the target dvPortGroup. Like many advanced features, this cannot be set from within the vSphere client for a distributed port group but can be set via PowerCLI

Code for how to configure can be found here


Skills and Abilities - Given a set of network requirements, identify the appropriate distributed switch technology to use
If your hardware supports you may want to add a virtual switch extension like those for Cisco Nexus 1000V and IBM 5000v virtual switches. 

Skills and Abilities - Configure and administer vSphere Network I/O Control

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Skills and Abilities - Use command line tools to troubleshoot and identify configuration items from an existing vDS