ESXi 5.5 U2 loses network management connection soon after boot or management network restart

[julkair]

Hello,

we have a new server system from Intel, the hardware is fully functional.

It is a S2600CW2 Mainboard, which is supported by ESXi 5.5 U2, with two E5-2620v3 processors and each with 2 times of 8 GB RAM.

The Raid Controller is an Intel RMS25PB080 (already used often for ESXi 5.5 U2).

RMM4 is installed.

The installation of VMWARE ESXi 5.5 U2 was no problem, just the normal two BIOS settings were needed, the Virtualization enabled in the processor config an the I/O Mapping above 4 GB disabled.

After the startup of the ESX Host, it is reachable through the vsphere client, but after a very short time, the connection aborts with an unknown connection error.

You can not reconnect after that, only if you restart the management network manually and then it works again for a short time.

Has anyone else experienced the same?

Or has anyone some suggestions what could be the problem or where to look for information about the error?

Thank you very much!

Max

[CoolRam]

You can try restarting management agents on the host through DCUI.

This article could help you: VMware KB: Restarting the Management agents on an ESXi or ESX host

Apart from this Can you login in the console and look for /var/log/* fro the possible Error message in detail.

[julkair]

Thans for your quick answer,

The first suggestion I already tried, after the restart, the management network is working again for a short time and then crashes again.

I tried to look into /var/log via putty, but also there I get a connection abort.

[RamseyVL]

Hi Julkair,

I am currently experiencing exactly the same problem on one of my new VMWare hosts. Did you manage to find what was causing this issue? My setup is slightly different, we are using M620 blades in a M1000E chassis with iphash nic team on the NICs. Either way, when I reboot the host or restart the management network I get 4 ping replies, then it drops for 2 pings, responds for 2 more pings and after that it is totally dead until the next restart or reboot.

I have re-installed ESX on this blade.

I have moved it to a different slot in the chassis.

I have assigned a different IP address to it.

I have tested a working host in the same slot and it worked fine.

I have downed one of the NICs in the team but it still makes no difference.

I have even moved it to a different chassis but the problem seems to follow it around.

There are no hardware errors and the firmware is all up to date.

I have followed VMWare's network connectivity troubleshooting guide to no avail -> http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100410...

I am now installing ESXi 6 on this blade just to rule software out of the equation.

I would like to hear if and how you managed to get your problem sorted.

Regards,

Ramsey.

Just an update, ESXi 6 also produces the same problem. Going to have to run DSET and log a call with Dell.

[julkair]

Hello Ramsey,

I'm sorry but I don't think our problem matches yours.

We had a problem with our switch, that solved the issue.

Regards, Max

[RamseyVL]

Thanks for letting me know.