We have opened previous tickets with VMware on an outstanding issue where one of our esx servers would lose connection from our VC. After several months it was stated that this is a known issue with no resolution. "This release does not provide support for connecting NAT-configured ESX Server 2.5 and 3.0 hosts to VirtualCenter Server" Seems to be false, especially now that I have the real fix to our problem. I was able to diagnose the issue to be actually a communication issue @ the speed/duplex negotiation level. When I removed the auto-negotiation @ the switch level and the NIC level of the ESX server... the issue was resolved. Also, our esx servers are NATd, so this claim of "NAT for ESX Server 2.5 and 3.0 Hosts Is Not Supported" stated in the most recent release notes is false. I would also provide this resolution to VMware support, so other vmware customers and future ones would know this potential solution and not go through the several hours of no result support I had experienced. I saw several other users that have experienced this issue as well, so I'm hoping they can see this potential solution of removing auto-negotiate. I thinking VC is not smart enough to react or know the network problem and inteprets the traffic as a mismatch or something and reacts to it as if it were a flood, causing a disconnect. Please spread the word on this resolution I've discovered and fix what is stated in the release notes to the world. Thanks!

Dee

deepakm at rice dot edu