VMware Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS) Test Plan

Category	Name	Description	Test Method	Expected Result	Pass/Fail
Operations	Implementation	Create a new virtual switch.	Create a new virtual switch within a specified vCenter and migrate hosts to it.  Specific steps are required here based on environment specific variables.	New virtual switch is created successfully and is available for use.
Operations	Upgrade	Upgrade a virtual switch.	Upgrade the virtual switch to the latest version based on vCenter/ESXi host versions.	Virtual switch is upgraded with no impact to applications/users.
Operations	Cross virtual switch vMotion	Migrate a VM from one virtual switch to another.	Dynamically migrate a VM from one virtual switch to another.	VM is migrated with no impact to applications/users.
Operations	Config Backup	Backup configuration.	Backup and save virtual switch configuration.	Configuration is exported and saved.
Operations	Config Restore	Restore configuration.	Delete or change virtual switch configuration then restore to a previous version.	Configuration is restored successfully to a previous version.
Operations	Network IO Control	Designate different network IO properties for different types of VM workloads.	Create Network Resource Pools to associate port groups with specific network SLAs.	VM traffic is treated differently depending on identified SLAs configured.
Operations	LACP	Ensure virtual switch communicates properly across LACP enabled uplinks.	Configure LAGs for host uplinks ports to match upstream switch LACP configurations.	Network traffic successfully traverses the LAG.
Operations	RBAC	Ensure appropriate operations resources are able to manage/configure/monitor the virtual switch.	Create a "network" specific role and apply permissions to the appropriate AD security group.	Operations resources have the proper access required.
Operations	VLAN Updates via PowerCLI	Add additional VLANs to Port Groups	Leverage PowerCLI script(s) to add one or more VLANs to an existing Port Group or create a new Port Group.	Port Group is successfully created or updated and is configured to leverage the specified VLAN(s).
Operations	Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU)	Configure MTU per virtual switch.	Specify the required MTU per virtual switch to support network traffic requirements.	MTU is successfully configured and network traffic behaves properly.
Failover	Host Failure	Validate VMs are successfully restarted via HA on another host in the cluster.	Power off a host with a test VM running on it.	VM is restarted on another host and network traffic resumes normal operation.  An alert is also generated.
Failover	vCenter Failure	Validate normal network operations continue without the vCenter server.	Power off vCenter.	No network traffic from ESXi hosts or VM is impacted.  Any virtual switch modifications will not be available until vCenter is available.  An alert is also generated.
Failover	Physical Switch Failure	Validate physical network redundancy.	Power off a physical upstream switch.	No network traffic from ESXi hosts or VM is impacted because of redundant network uplink configuration and load balancing algorithms.  An alert is also generated.
Failover	Physical NIC Failure	Validate physical network redundancy.	Unplug a physical NIC from the blade/chassis or virtually disable one via blade virtualization (Virtual Connect/UCS Manager).	No network traffic from ESXi hosts or VM is impacted because of redundant network uplink configuration and load balancing algorithms.  An alert is also generated.
Troubleshooting	NetFlow	Send NetFlow data to a collector for analysis purposes.	Configure and enable virtual switch to send flows to NetFlow collector.  Specific steps required here based on environment specific variables.	NetFlow collector receives and analyzes the configured object(s).  Data is clean and usable.
Troubleshooting	Port Mirroring	Mirror a VM vNIC to an Layer 3 IP address for the analysis purposes.	Configure and enable port mirroring to send traffic to a designated IP address.  Specific steps required here based on environment specific variables.	Designated IP address receives specified network traffic from mirrored port and can be captured via 3rd party tools.  Data is clean and usable.
Troubleshooting	Packet Capture	Capture network packets for specific objects for analysis purposes.	Configure a packet capture session for a specified workload and save/export the capture file in a ".pcap" file format.	Packet capture is successfully generated and is able to be opened in a 3rd party packet capture analysis tool.
Troubleshooting	Traffic Filtering	Allow or Drop traffic from a specified object.	Configure and enable traffic filtering to allow or drop specific types of traffic from specific objects.	Designated traffic is allowed or dropped.
Troubleshooting	Traffic Tagging	Tag specific traffic via Cos or DSCP standards.	Configure and enable traffic tagging to tag specific types of traffic from specific objects.	Designated traffic is tagged.
Troubleshooting	Monitor Statistics	Connect via CLI to gather network statistics (dropped packets)	Connect to ESXi via SSH or vCenter via PowerCLI to gather virtual switch statistics.	Network statistics are viewed/gathered via CLI methods.