A method for persisting a state of a virtual port in a virtualized computer system is described. A distributed virtual port (DVport) is stored in a persistent storage location, the DVport comprising a state of a corresponding virtual port and configuration settings of the virtual port. In addition, an association between the virtual port and the virtual network interface card (VNIC) connected to the virtual port is stored. When a virtual machine corresponding to the VNIC is restarted, the state from the DVport is restored to a new virtual port from the persistent storage location.