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cousty
Contributor
Contributor

ESXI Management Interface unresponsive / No Backups

I have recently started in a new role and the first task I have been faced with is the following.

Our ESX 5 servers management interface is unresponsive, I have tested from the console itself using  Test Management Network and this fails to even ping it's default gateway. I have restarted the Mangement Network and the Management Agents but this has had no effect.

To add to this currently none of the VM's have been backed up.

Before shuting down the servers and physically rebooting the ESX I need to understand the best way to backup the servers in case the management interface is still unresponsive after the reboot.

Alternatively is there anything else that can be done to restart / recover the management interface.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Did you already check the cables and uplink ports to see whether there's an issue with the connectivity? From within the DCUI (yellow-gray console on the host) you can check whether the interfaces for the Management Network show "Connected".

André

cousty
Contributor
Contributor

Andre,

I have checked the DCUI and the management interface is connected I have also double checked the physical cabling back to the switch and checked the switch interface and all that looks good, also the interface was responsive until recently.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Do you have virtual machines on the same vSwitch in the same subnet as the Management Network? Are they able to ping it?

How many uplinks do you have on the vSwitch? Are you using the default vSwitch/port group policies?

André

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hmus
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Try to ping the gateway of ESXi Mgmt

have you performed any task such as Host upgrade or driver update before facing this issue?

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cousty
Contributor
Contributor

Unfortunately all the VMs are on a different subnet and vSwitch and they are all currently responding, there are two vSwitch uplinks, we are also using the default vSwitch/Port Group policies.

Neil.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

To clarify. Is this a single host or is it part of an HA cluster?

What you could try is to enable Shell access in the DCUI and then log on to the console. From there try to ping the host's own IP address to see whether networking is working at all. Then run esxtop and press "n" to switch to the networking view. Once there disconnect the Management cables (one at a time) and monitor whether the NIC assignment changes in esxtop.

You may also run a contineous ping from a client to your host to see whether this responds at any time while you are doing the above.

André

cousty
Contributor
Contributor

It is a single host, I will try your suggestion on the console but need to be very careful as the server hosted there are Business critical and I can't afford for them to go down. Having only recently started I was in the process of setting up a proper back system, I think I am going to have to back the machine up using a Windows solution or possibly use VMWare convertor to create a copy of each of the servers.

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

With business critical VM's you should implement a proper backup asap. I'd suggest you either take a look at the new "Data Protection" which will be available with the vSphere Essentials Plus 5.1 Kit or license a vSphere Essentials Kit and use e.g. Veeam Essentials.

see http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/small-business.html

André

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cousty
Contributor
Contributor

I totally agree and I was in the process of Implementing Veeam sadly not quickly enough though, as I say I am new to the organisation and backups are a major issue which is taking sometime to resolve.

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cousty
Contributor
Contributor

I have now resolved the issue by doing the following.

Physically moved the management interface to Eth1 on the server which was a free disconnected interface and set this as the management interface. Once cabled and connected I then Restarted the Management Network and it's all working.

I am now running backups of the servers all be it manually over the weekend.

Many thanks for the help.

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