In VMware world, we have two types of virtual switches which are classified as vNetwork Standard Switch (vSS) and vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS).

What is the difference between vSS and vDS? When to use vSS or vDS? The vSS is configured on every ESXi host, meaning independently on each ESXi host in your environment. The vDS managed from a vCenter Server manages at the datacenter level. This idea is better because your administration takes place all in one place.

The virtual switch is a software construct running in the VMkernel. The virtual switch provides two types of connectivity to the VM (VM port group) and the hypervisor services (VMkernel ports).