ESX does more than Virtualize the hardware, it also virtualizes 1 or more
switches.
You could use a managed switch and have each virtual network set on a different
vlan. You would then assign each nic in each virtual machine to one of these
virtual networks. You would also assign the ports in your managed switch to
these networks.
You could also have a separate nic assigned to a separate virtual switch and
then assign each virtual nic accordingly
At my house (I know I am strange) I have the following setup
Internet --- [ESX NIC 1 -- {Virtual Switch 1 (named WAN)}]
Managed Switch --- [ESX NIC 2 -- {Virtual Switch 2 (named LAN)}
On Virtual Swich 2 I also have Virtual Networks Using Vlans (Phone - Vlan 10)
(Wireless Vlan 20)
I have a virtual machine running Asterisk with its nic assigned to "Phone"
I have a virtual machine running Windows7 with its nic assigned to "LAN"
I have a virtual machine running Linux with its nic assigned to "LAN"
I have a virtual machine running PFsese with its 4 nics assigned to "WAN",
"LAN", "PHONE", "Wireless" accordingly
I also have a port on my switch configured with vlan connected to my wireless
access point
There is more than this, but I don't want to overcomplicate things. All in
all, things run great. When you go virtual RAM in the host machine is what
runs out first. It is a little to wrap you head around virtualization, but
once you do, you won't go back. Be sure to add the open vmware tools package
once you get things up and running. I also found the e1000 nics played nicest
with pfSense.
You could also install vmware player on your desktop / laptop to help
understand things. Once you login to esx with the client, things make more
sense.
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