Dell PowerEdge 2900 BroadCom Nics Detect as Intel Nics

[marshall28]

We have been having strange problems with all our workstations where at random times throughout the day they will not be able to either ping the server by name or IP and get an "rpc server is unavailable" error when trying to access the server via a network. One area I noticed that struck me as odd was that the vmware host nics auto negotiated at 100mbps (connected to a 100mbps switch) but the window 2003 domain controller auto negotiates at 1000mbps. So I set this manually on 100mbps and that didn't fix things. I've also noticed that the nics on this thing are broadcoms but detect as intel pro 1000 MT adaptors. Any help would be appreciated to fix these issues.

thanks

[vmroyale]

Hello.

We have been having strange problems with all our workstations where at  random times throughout the day they will not be able to either ping the  server by name or IP and get an "rpc server is unavailable" error when  trying to access the server via a network.

Do you mean your guest operating systems (virtual machines) or the ESXi hosts?

One area I noticed that struck me as odd was that the vmware host nics  auto negotiated at 100mbps (connected to a 100mbps switch) but the  window 2003 domain controller auto negotiates at 1000mbps.

Is the Windows 2003 DC a VM or a physical?  It is not uncommon for the guest OS to report 1000, and you can ignore this.

I've also noticed that the nics on this thing are broadcoms but detect  as intel pro 1000 MT adaptors. Any help would be appreciated to fix  these issues.

When you say "this thing," are you referring to your ESXi host?

How are your virtual switches set up?  Does this problem occur with all of your virtual machines, or just a subset of them?

Good Luck!

[marshall28]

this all occurs on the esxi guest operating systems. Windows 2003. I didn't realize it was ok for it to falsly report it's speed. I'll go ahead and leave this on auto negotiate then.

the problem osccurs with only one virtual machine, the windows 2003 domain controller. there are not others being used though for me to test this out.

in regards to switches everything is standard. I've made no special changes. There is only one NIC included in the active adaptors for the virtual network. the management network is using the same NIC as the vm network.

[vmroyale]

In Windows, check the adapter properties and ensure that on the power management tab the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" option is not checked.

[marshall28]

it was checked. I turned it off. I'll see what that does now. thanks