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iehrenwaldHBG
Contributor
Contributor
‎12-01-2017 03:02 PM

Nested ESXi 6.5, Auto Deploy, and VMXNET3

I am playing with a test lab and have run into a weird problem and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

I have a physical ESXi 6.5U1 host that I am deploying nested ESXi 6.5U1 VMs into.  These nested VMs have 4 x VMXNET3 interfaces.  If I boot the nested VMs from the ESXi installation ISO, the installer is happy and I can proceed with a manual installation.  If I PXE boot the nested VMs to pass off to Auto Deploy (which is running on VCSA on the physical ESXi 6.5U1 host), the installer complains that there are no compatible NICs installed in the system.  If I change the NIC type in the nested VMs to E1000, the Auto Deploy proceeds without fatal errors about missing NICs.

So, my question is, why isn't the VMXNET3 driver getting used when I boot/install from network?  I actually see it getting brought down from the Auto Deploy server when watching the ESXi bootup screen.  I've tried various builds of the 6.5 offline bundle in my Auto Deploy Software Depot, from GA to U1, with the same results.  It must be something I am inadvertently doing.

Has anyone else run into this or have ideas?

Thanks.

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21 Replies
iehrenwaldHBG
Contributor
Contributor
‎12-09-2017 06:39 PM

Well this is interesting...

If I change the VM firmware type to BIOS instead of EFI and use the appropriate PXE boot image (undionly.kpxe.vmw-hardwired vs snponly64.efi.vmw-hardwired), my mysterious 'no compatible network adapter' problem goes away and I am able to successfully PXE boot and deploy.

The default firmware type when creating a new VM of type 'Other' with the 'ESXi 6.5' OS profile is EFI.  When you all are doing nested auto deploy, do you specifically change firmware to BIOS instead of EFI?

The logical follow up question is.. Why does EFI+VMXNET3+ISO installation work flawlessly, while EFI+VMXNET3+PXE gives 'no compatible network adapter found', and BIOS+VMXNET3+PXE works great?

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TronAr
Commander
Commander
‎12-10-2017 02:29 AM

Indeed interesting, if I only knew more of EFI Smiley Happy

I mentioned the BIOS thingy because when trying a fast recovery of a course "situation" two days ago, the EFI default (as created by Web client) locked up.

So I turned to "my" script created alternative (powerCLI) and worked fine:

   $vm = new-vm -vmhost $e3 -name NestedHost `

    -Datastore $ds `

    -MemoryGB 4 -NumCPU 2 -GuestID vmkernel6guest `

    -NetworkName pg-SA-Management,pg-SA-vMotion,pg-SA-Management

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