A virtual machine connects to the network via its virtual network adapter. The virtual network adapter of a VM is referred to as a vNIC. The vNIC connects to a port group on a vSwitch (standard/distributed). A vNIC cannot be directly connected to a vSwitch; it can only be mapped to any of the port groups present on the vSwitch. A port group is a set of ports on a vSwitch grouped together under a common configuration, for example, a VLAN.

If there is a need, we can reconfigure the vNIC to connect to another existing port group, or to a newly created port group. To learn more about creating and managing port groups, read Chapter 6, Configuring vSphere Networking.

In this recipe, we will learn how to reconfigure a virtual machine to map its vNIC to different port groups.