Problem on Virtual Switch on Intel Quad server adapter

[dpacioni1]

We are having a problem creating a Virtual switch on Intel Quad server pro 82546GB.

We have a DL380 G1 with 2 NIC intergrated ON ESX 3.0.0. build 27701.

We use one integrated NIC for Console , The other one for the first Vm Virtual Switch.

We have installed an Intel Quad server pro 82546Gb with 4 NIC interfaces .

Vmware see this netwrok card as 4 NIC.

We have creted on VS for Vmation and 3 VS for VM.

2 virtual Switch works without problem , one of then doesn't work.

Checking each NIC card we have discovered that the NIC card not working doesn't see the neworks on the NIC properties page; (I mean if you go on the tab Network adapter in the configuration page you can see all network card , in my case the NIcs that are working have the tab network with my values the nic that's not working has that tab empty..)

all network card are attached on the same switch and I've already checked the connections .

It looks like a configuration problem since we have the second host with exactly the same problem.

I checked and it seems that maximum number of switches allowied is 248 so any idea?

[Gabrie1]

Are all ports on the nic connected to the same trunks? Are the fysical switches configured properly? If you switch the cabling at the ports, does the problem "move"?

Are you able to use a simple hub for testing purpose and connect the quad nic to the hub? This will let you rule out issues on the fysical switch.

Gabrie

[MayurPatel]

Have you applied ESX-1006511 patch to your VI3 box.

In order to apply the above patch you will have to upgrade to ESX 3.0.1.

Refer to KB article http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1006511&sliceId=SAL_Public

YOu can find additional information on this thread.

http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=563742#563742

MP

[dpacioni1]

Guys , I solved the problem changing the port on the switch , but I want to tell that ports are working (I simply inverted the cable on the switch from problematic Nics...on the two esx hosts)

So do you know why?

I just checked and I have the ESX2221 pathc installed and both Nic was connected on the same trunk

[Gabrie1]

Not sure if I understand your new question.

So, you changed the ports on the fysical switch by switching cables?

If you plugin the cables back, then things are not working anylonger?

Are you sure your fysical switch is configured equal on all ports?

Sorry... have a hard time understanding what you're trying...

Gabrie

[RobvanderHelm]

Hi, I have a problem that has about the same symptoms. We have a IBM x3850 server with 2 Intel Pro/1000PT Quad cards. I have put all 8 ports on the 2 Quad cards on the same VLAN and only 1 port is able to make a connection. The other ports are not working. I am not physically near the server so I can't switch patch cables to the correct working switch to see were the problems comes from. It could be the switch or the driver for the Intel PT Quad card.....

On the network card page in Virtual Center I see only 2 or 3 cards with a network next to it on the right, one of them is Port 6 that works. The other 2 ports with a network next to it don't work.

We did install the patch for the Intel Quad PT cards. It is recognised correctly.

I didn't understand your solution exactly, what did you do to solve the problem?

Any idea?

[dpacioni1]

That was a phisical switch configuration problem ,

The newtwork card was connected on switch ports with VLan misconfigurated .

Changing ports I solved the problem.

So definatly make sure that port on phisical switch are configured properly.

[RobvanderHelm]

Hi, I verified the switch configuration remotely, everything on the switch seems correct, VLAN, port speed and duplex setting.

I will try another physical switchport to do any further testing.

Thanks,

Rob.

[RobvanderHelm]

Latest info:

We configured al switchports on the Cisco switch to match the same VLAN.

We configured one Vswitch to connect to one NIC port.

We configured one VM to that Vswitch.

After that we tested the network connection of the VM 8 times, once with every single NIC port connected to the Vswitch.

The result is that only one NIC port works, this NIC port is vmNIC6.

The next thing we did is changing the physical cables of vmNIC4 and vmNIC 6 to the Cisco switch. The result is that, again, only vmNIC6 works.

My conclusion is that we have a software problem on our VMware 3.01 server. As every patch from VMware is installed I'm not sure where to look for a sollution.

Rob.

[dpacioni1]

Thats' could be true...

My configuration is with esx3.0.0 build 2871 .

I don't know if youu want to spend other time on this issue but did you try to test the network card as well ?

[RobvanderHelm]

Hi, VmWare confirmed that thare are still problems with the Intel Quad Pro/1000 PT cards under ESX 3. We are now busy finding a sollution with Vmware and Intel.

[thechicco]

Drat

I'm going to be using these cards in my new infrastructure, I had hoped everything was ironed out....

[zaheerlaher]

Hi All,

We have a problem with the Intel Pro1000GT Quad port card as well in an IBM x3655 server we can't get the ports on the e/1000 driver to work they work fine on the on board Broadcom. The Intel card is fully supported so anyone know what is happening.

Zaheer (on befalf of Spence)