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rhishimagdum
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ESXi 5.5 host not able to connect in network

I have installed ESXi5.5 U2. But ESXi host doesn't grab an IP from DHCP. I tried givind static IP from my office network but still it could not connect to the network. I checked from CLI, the adapter vmnico is up. Why the machine is not getting an IP ?

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rhishimagdum
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I booted that machine from Network (Settings available in bios), and observed if it takes an IP. Then I booted the server from hdd. Surprisingly it took an IP and I was able to connect it through network.

After that I connected that NIC on another slot on same server. I found the same issue (Didn't grab IP). But when again I did the 'Network boot ' thing, it took an IP and now it is working fine.

What does in mean ??

Apparently, my problem is resolved but I still don't know the reason.

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rhishimagdum
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The network adapter ins "Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express" which I guess is compatible with ESXi 5.5

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nettech1
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Please post a screenshot of your network config from DCUI

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rhishimagdum
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Please find attached screen shots

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rhishimagdum
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vswitch configuration

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nettech1
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can you ping 127.0.0.1 using vmkping ?

can you ping itself using the IP assigned to the management port?

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100372...

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rhishimagdum
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Yes, I can ping 127.0.0.1 and the own static IP address using vmkping but not able to ping any other machine in network. Today I was able to access the ESXi from network. I was able to ping the ESXi host from all the machines in the network but when I downloaded vSphere client and tried to connect ESXi, I observed the connectivity was lost. Now It is again not able connect in network.

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Alim786
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Make sure the switch port that you connect your ESXi NIC has matching Speed & Duplex settings to what you have configured.

VCP6-DCV, VCP5, CCNA, MCTS 2008R2, MCSA 2008R2, CCA, ITIL. Please mark answer helpful or correct as appropriate.
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rhishimagdum
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Both switch and the NIC has same settings

100Mbps Full Duplex (Auto)

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Alim786
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Can you provide the output from esxcfg-nics -l command please.

VCP6-DCV, VCP5, CCNA, MCTS 2008R2, MCSA 2008R2, CCA, ITIL. Please mark answer helpful or correct as appropriate.
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rhishimagdum
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here is the output. But Im still wondering why it stopped working ? I didn't change anything.

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Alim786
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Please check following :-

1. It is in correct VLAN

2. Firmware and Drivers are latest

3. There is no duplication in IP or MAC address (have you changed system board or NIC recently)

4. Any Switch Port MAC security.

5. what happens if you change switch port.

6. Are any other servers experiencing the problem.

7. Any firewalls at play.

8. Can you ad another NIC

The last think would be to use network capture tool (e.g. Wireshark to troubleshoot packets)

VCP6-DCV, VCP5, CCNA, MCTS 2008R2, MCSA 2008R2, CCA, ITIL. Please mark answer helpful or correct as appropriate.
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nettech1
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bad cable?

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rhishimagdum
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1. It is in correct VLAN

--No VLANs are set.

2. Firmware and Drivers are latest

--I tried 5.5 update 2 but still not working

3. There is no duplication in IP or MAC address (have you changed system board or NIC recently)

--No. But I have added this NIC recently. I had realtec NIC before but It was not supported.

4. Any Switch Port MAC security.

--NO

5. what happens if you change switch port.

--Same observation. I even tried connecting different switch

6. Are any other servers experiencing the problem.

--No

7. Any firewalls at play.

--No

8. Can you ad another NIC

--Will try with another NIC

And no bad cable.

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BriFar
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Hi,

Can you also try connecting directly to the network card on the server. This way you will confirm if the issue is within the esxi host or networking.

Make sure to temporarily disable the firewall in your laptop/pc to make sure that you can test pinging from both sides.

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rhishimagdum
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I connected my test machine (192.168.1.100) and the ESX server ((192.168.1.10))back to back and observed packets on wireshark.

1.When I ping ESXi host from test machine, it didn't send any response.

2.When I ping my test machine from ESX, I observed packets on my test machine. Test machine sent response for that ping but ESXi is not receiving that.

So the overall observation is, it is not able to receive any traffic.

From "esxcfg-nics -l" output, I can see the speed is 100Mbps. can that be a problem ?

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rhishimagdum
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I booted that machine from Network (Settings available in bios), and observed if it takes an IP. Then I booted the server from hdd. Surprisingly it took an IP and I was able to connect it through network.

After that I connected that NIC on another slot on same server. I found the same issue (Didn't grab IP). But when again I did the 'Network boot ' thing, it took an IP and now it is working fine.

What does in mean ??

Apparently, my problem is resolved but I still don't know the reason.

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Kenn213
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I'm having the exact same problem as you, with the exact same nic. Can you explain what you did to network boot? I get the option before the BIOS loads but I've never done it before. I assume I have to set up a server to host the OS?

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rhishimagdum
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JUst select network boot option from bios and boot. It will grab an IP from dhcp setver running on your network. do not provide any OS image so that it will fail to load an image. Then change the boot option from bios (select hard disk) and boot.

Kenn213
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You, sir, are a lifesaver. I was skeptical that it would work, but lo and behold my server is talking on the network now. Odd that the network boot has to be enabled for this card to work with ESXi.

Anyways thanks for the help. Saved me a $400 support call. :smileygrin:

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