Unable to increase the number of ports on a virtual switch in ESXi 5.5

By design, the number of ports on a standard virtual switch in  ESXi 5.5 cannot be modified. To ensure efficient use of resources on hosts running ESXi 5.5, the ports of virtual switches are dynamically scaled up and down. A switch on such a host can expand up to the maximum number of ports supported on the host. The port limit is determined based on the maximum number of virtual machines that the host can handle. It uses only the elastic option and the ports are dynamically increased or reduced according to need. By functionality, it is similar to the auto-expand feature available in dvSwitch starting with vSphere 5.0.

However, the vSphere Client still shows 120 ports by default and allows you to modify, though the default is set to 1536 at the back-end and does not change.

The vSphere Web Client correctly shows the updated value for the number of ports as elastic.

Running the esxcli network vswitch standard list command from the shell prompt shows Num Ports as 1536.

VMware Certifications Path

VMware Certifications

Solution Track	Associate	Professional	Advanced Professional		Expert
			Administrator	Architect
Cloud	VCA-Cloud	VCP-Cloud	VCAP-CIA	VCAP-CID	VCDX-Cloud
Data Center Virtualization	VCA-DCV	VCP5-DCV	VCAP5-DCA	VCAP5-DCD	VCDX5-DCV
End User Computing	VCA-WM	VCP5-DT	VCAP-DTA	VCAP-DTD	VCDX-DT
Network Virtualization	VCA-NV	Coming Soon

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Exam Details VCP (VMware Certified Professional)

Exam Details VCP (VMware Certified Professional)

Exam Details 5.0/5.1

• Number of Questions: 85 questions, with a pre-exam survey of 8 questions
• Type(s) of questions: multiple choice; some questions will require only one selection while others may require two or more selections. Questions clearly state the number of required selections.
• Passing Score: 300, on a scaled score of 100 to 500
• Time Limit: 90 minutes for the exam plus an additional 15 minutes for the pre-exam survey. Candidates testing in countries where English is not the primary spoken language will have an additional 30 minutes for the exam (120 minutes total)

Exam Details 5.5

• Number of Questions

The VCP5-DCV Exam consists of 135 questions and a short pre-exam survey consisting of 8 questions.

• Passing Score

The passing score for this exam is 300, using a scaled scoring method. The scale is from 100-500. Scaled scores are calculated using a mathematical formula that considers a variety of factors, including the number and type of exam questions included in a specific version of the exam. Because this combination may vary in different versions of the same examination, scaled scores provide a fair score for each individual based on the version of the exam taken.

• Time Limit

The time limit for the exam is 120 minutes, with an additional 15 minutes to complete the survey questions and agreements. Candidates who take the VCP5-DCV Exam in a country where English is not a primary language will have an additional 30 minutes added to the exam time. This time extension is automatic, no additional action is required from the candidate. For the purposes of this exam, countries where English is considered one of the primary languages include Australia, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.