Hmmm... I have tried creating a vSwitch on my ESX 5 boxes but I am only shown the NICs that are attached to the physical network (and have static IP addresses) as options to add to the vSwitch.
How can I specify that the NICs that don't have assigned IP addresses are to be a part of a given port group or vSwitch?
By the way, whenever I connect the secondary NICs in my two ESX boxes back to back I lose all connectivity to the primary NICs attached to the network and can't even manage them anymore.