Cannot get ESXi host to use virtual NIC on VMWare workstation

[JPAnd]

I have 4.1 ESXi installed as a VM in VMware Workstation 7.1.4

I want to use a separate network for traffic between ESXi and a virtual SAN (Openfiler) using iSCSI

The networks are

vmnet0 (bridged to a wireless NIC) 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0

vmnet1 (Host-Only network) 192.168.10.0/255.255.255.0 for iSCSI

I've done the configuration of the Openfiler VM to use 192.168.10.100/255.255.255.0 and created an ISCSI target

I created a vmkernel switch using the virtual nic connected to vmnet1 on the ESXi host with address 192.168.10.50

The ESXi host cannot see anything on that network. The Openfiler VM can be pinged, but the ESXi host cannot be pinged at all.

I've attached a set of screenshots so people can see what I've done.

It looks like the ESXi host will not communicate at all except on the bridged network.

What am I doing wrong? I've been stuck for weeks trying to fix this without result.

Please help

[JPAnd]

No responses at all. Amazing.

[little_horse]

Actually, I have been looking through your screenshots yesterday, but couldn't see anything wrong with it.

What OS do you run your VMware Workstation on? I have already seen some bugs with virtual networking when Workstation was used on Ubuntu.

I would recommend you to try the same config in Windows 7. I have very similar lab at home on Windows 7 with 2 ESXi hosts and Openfiler and haven't faced any problems so far.

[JPAnd]

I have logged a service request with VMware. My strong suspicion is that its a bug in VMware Workstation for Linux or a bug in ESXi

I can't understand why it doesn't work at all. I have set this up first time when the host was Windows 2003 and when using ESXi as a baremetal hypervisor connected through a switch to a NetApp SAN.

All I know is that my setup at home which I'm using to revise VCP won't do a basic function and no-one appears to know why.

[admin]

Are both /dev/vmnet0 and /dev/vmnet1 on the linux host set up to allow promiscuous mode (KB 287)?

[little_horse]

why would he need to put openfiler interfaces into promiscious mode?  how will it help?

[admin]

I'm not thinking of the openfiler interfaces, but rather of the ESXi interfaces.  I would expect promiscuous mode to be required for a virtual switch.  I could be wrong.

[little_horse]

No, as I said, I have the very similar config at home lab and I haven't enabled promiscious mode.

[admin]

Didn't you say that your home lab is running Workstation on Windows 7?  I believe that promiscuous mode is always enabled on Windows hosts.

[little_horse]

I guess jmattson deserve 10 points for the right answer, i have just found the same explanation - http://planetvm.net/blog/?p=1390

this proves that I am too ignorant in linux

[JPAnd]

From VMware support I was told to do this for one virtual NIC (vmnet1) but it did not make a difference on its own.

This is what I wrote back to VMware support

What did work was to move the Management Network to vmnet1 on the ESXi server. THEN the ESXi server could see the Openfiler iSCSI SAN.

When I restarted the management network, the Vcenter server couldn't connect to the ESXi server because the physical card connected to vmnet0 had disappeared!

Reconnecting the Physical NIC to vmnet0, it seems OK to connect VMs to the ESXi server but...why is this happening? It has to be a bug in either ESXi or Workstation for Linux.

What happens when I create another vmkernel port on another vmnic for vmotion? Will I have to move the Management network again? Will I lose connection to the Openfiler SAN if I do  this?

I'll try changing all of them vmnet0,1,2,3 and see if this makes a difference. It appears to me at the moment that the VM will only communicate through the network which has the Management network for the ESXi host running on it.

I'll try a few more changes tomorrow to try and get a proper fix/workaround