Cannot login to ESXi 5.5 with VSphere client

[VSprague]

I have a new Dell server. I installed ESXi 5.5. I can ping and SSH into the host but I can't login with the vsphere client. I've captured the vmkernel and management agent logs from the host. I'm lost right now as to what is causing this. I installed ESXi 5.5 onto an SD card in server. And like I said I can ping and SSH into the host.

[madhusudanhv]

What is the error message you get when you try to connect to host using vSphere client?

[VSprague]

The error says:

"Connection error: The request failed because the remote server '192.168.0.132' took too long to respond. (The command has timed out as the remote server is taking too long to respond.)

Error Stack

Call "ServiceInstance.RetrieveContent' for object "ServiceInstance" on Server "192.168.0.132" failed.

[zXi_Gamer]

PeteNetLive - KB0000870 - VMware VI Client Error 'Call "ServiceInstance.RetrieveContent&amp...

BTW, is your machine WinXP or Win2003 by any chance?? if then,VMware KB: vSphere Client and vSphere PowerCLI may fail to connect to vCenter Server 5.5 due to a Ha...

[VSprague]

No it's a Server 2008 R2 machine, I'll look at the MTU settings. One difference I'm seeing from that site is when I try to browse to the host in 443 I receive the certificate warning, but when I click on continue the connection fails. Also, I tried to connect from my laptop and the same thing happens so I don't think it's an issue with the client end.

[VSprague · Accepted solution]

Ok, I found that the issue was MTU related, the MTU on the switches was set to 1500. These are Dell switches if that matters. I removed the MTU setting from the management ports and then I was able to login to vsphere without any issues.