2 min
Prerequisites
Before proceeding please check that the machine hosting the Domotz Agent is plugged in on to a trunk port of your switch which is able to see all your VLANs.
Configuration
With recent changes on how Windows manage network, with components from Hyper-V that is now installed by default, it is now possible to configure VLANs without third-party software.
It is a 3-step process, create a virtual switch, create a virtual network interface and set this vNIC in access mode to the VLAN you want to monitor.
1. Create Virtual Switch
If you have Hyper-V installed you can use GUI to create a Virtual Switch connected to the host physical NIC attached to a switch port that is allowed into the VLANs you want to monitor. Open the Hyper-V Manager and select the Virtual Switch Manager:
Hyper-V Manager > Virtual Switch Manager
You can also create the Virtual Switch manually using PowerShell in administrator mode if you don’t have the Hyper-V Manager installed:
a) List the NICs you have attached to the host:
Get-NetAdapter
b) Create the Virtual Switch attached to the interface:
New-VMSwitch -Name "vSwitchWired" -NetAdapterName "Ethernet 5" -AllowManagementOS: $true
2. Create Virtual NIC (vNIC)
Add-VMNetworkAdapter -ManagementOS -Name "VLAN66" -SwitchName vSwitchWired
3. Set the vNIC to access mode on the VLAN you want to monitor
Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -ManagementOS -VMNetworkAdapterName VLAN66 -Access -VlanId 666
Repeat the steps 2 and 3 for all VLANs you want to monitor.
As these vNICs are new to the system, you have to reinstall the NPCAP driver, to do so remove the current one and install it again:
Download: https://npcap.com/dist/npcap-1.50.exe
Once this is done, restart the Domotz Agent service using the service.msc applet:
Within some minutes , the agent will report devices from the additional VLANs as online:
Note that depending on the NIC you have installed on your host, you may be able to manage these virtual interfaces connected to VLANs using their proprietary tool, see below two examples.
Realtek NICs
If you are using a Realtek NIC, you have to install the Realtek Ethernet Diagnostic Utility and with that Tool configure the additional VLANs:
A new Virtual Interface will be created for each VLAN you add for both Intel or Realtek.
Intel NICs
If you use Intel NICs, here they have more details about the models and how to do it: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005677/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html\
Other NICs manifacturers
Other brands may have a similar tools, you might check their website.
If the configuration of VLANs on Windows seems to be too complicated or it raises issues, you might think on moving the Domotz agent on a Linux Virtual Machine.
Remember that we also ship pre-configured virtual machines with the Domotz Agent already installed for the following hypervisors:
– Oracle Virtual Box: https://help.domotz.com/user-guide/domotz-installation-virtual-box/
– Vmware Esxi: https://help.domotz.com/user-guide/domotz-installation-vmware-esxi/
– Hyper-V: https://help.domotz.com/user-guide/domotz-installation-hyper-v/
– Proxmox: https://help.domotz.com/user-guide/domotz-installation-proxmox/
Share via Social Networks