ESXi 5.5 U3 network connectivity loss beyond local LAN

[JaapHoetmer]

Hello all,

I have been banging my head against the wall on this issue, I can't seem to get it sorted.

Network connectivity:

Internet router-> DMZ -> Firewall -> ESXi 5.5 host on a HP Proliant with a number of guests. No VLAN's, just a flat switch connecting the ESXi host to the firewall. The firewall's WAN port connects to the router.

I have upgraded the BIOS/firmware of the Proliant to the latest version, and as I encountered network issues after the firmware upgrade, I decided to upgrade the ESXi host to the latest 5.5 U3 release (HP ISO). In thinking that the firmware release should be matched by the VMWare drivers.

Ever since I can't get some of the guests to reach out to the internet router or beyond. They can ping the local network devices and other guest systems, but not the internet router or addresses on the internet. However, some guests still can, so it is not all-encompassing; non-working guests are a mix of Linux and Windows, so it is not tied to one operating system. And testing a fresh install of a Windows guest is confirming that this is working fine. And some Linux guests still work fine.

I have tried a lot of things, and found out that changing the IP addresses of the guests that experienced this problem got them to be able to ping the router again, and be able to reach the internet. However, I need to use the original IP addresses as other configurations depend on it. Besides, I don't like workarounds without understanding the underlying issue.

The firewall logs show the connections being permitted.

I have tried various things, like

changing from a vmxnet3 to an E1000,

changing from the assigned MAC address to a self-defined address,

Uninstalling VMWare Tools, rebooting, resetting the IP and Winsock configuration, reinstalling VMWare Tools,

upgraded a W2008R2 guest system to W2012R2, to see if it was related to the OS release, to no avail.

Even wanted to move to ESXi 6.0, but without knowing if this is a problem with 5.5, I don't want to embark on another upgrade without further knowledge.

Does anybody have any further ideas, tips, pointers?

Huge thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

[Kaustubhambulka]

what is the vCenter build ?

You are using vDS ?

[JaapHoetmer]

Hi Kaustubhambulkar, thanks for replying.

I am not using vCenter yet, nor vDS, for the moment I am just using the hypervisor with vSphere Client. As I mentioned, the intention is to upgrade to ESXi 6 with vCenter Server, but I need to know if this problem persists once I upgrade, or if it will resolve it. Most importantly, I want to know why this is happening, because I don't understand it and that frustrates me.

Thanks, regards,

Jaap

[JaapHoetmer · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

OK I have resolved this issue, and as usual the problem was found between the keyboard and the chair.

The virtual IPs set up for these hosts on the firewall for incoming traffic were incorrect as their public addresses had changed, making even an outbound connection beyond the firewall impossible.

I have also successfully upgraded to vSphere 6.0 and can now move to the licensed vCenter Server.

Another painful lesson learned...

Kind regards

Jaap