If you cannot support VLANs in your switches, the number of logical networks available to you is immediately limited by the number of physical NICs within each server, and whether or not you choose to make use of network bonding for redundancy and performance.

If you choose to set up network bonds on your servers, you do this as part of your server configuration process, prior to defining any additional networks within Oracle VM. Configuring network bonds using the Oracle VM Manager Web Interface is discussed in Bond Ports Perspective in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide.

If you are only using network ports without bonding, simply keep track of how many ports are available in each server and ensure that you understand how these are connected to your switches as these ports have a one-to-one correlation with the logical networks that you are able to create. Make notes of the IP addressing and subnetworks that should be used for each port.

If you choose to use network bonding, you should identify which ports belong to which bonds you intend to create. In this case, each bond has a direct correlation with a logical network that you can create within Oracle VM. Once network bonding is enabled, the ports can no longer be used independently and your IP address and subnetwork information is specific to the network bond itself. Make notes of the IP addressing and subnetworks that should be used for each bond.

You should now be able to map the information that you have about servers, ports, bonds and IP addressing directly onto the different logical networks that you wish to create. For each logical network, make a note of the different network channels that you wish to support within each of these subnetworks. Ensure that the components that are used within the channel of the network are all physically connected to the same network.

With all of this information, you are ready to begin configuration. It is important to bear the following points in mind: