Question about active ports

[esxi_newbie]

Hello,

I have ESXI 8.0 running on a server with a single NIC (Lab). I have two IP addresses. One is used for Management and the other one I want to assign to a VM (in this example Windows 10). I created a new port group called EXT and it is on the same vSwitch0 as Management Network. While the picture shows that vSwitch topology shows that the VM is there the active ports remain at 0. Could anyone help me understand why is it showing 0?

Thanks!

[d3m1g0d]

Please check if the vNIC of the VM is actually connected to the port group.  If the vNIC is not connected, then the port will not become active.

You can achieve this by right-clicking th virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
On the Virtual Hardware tab, scroll down to the Network Adapter and select the option "Connected" and/or "Connect at power on".
Then click Save.

[scott28tt]

Is the VM powered on?

Is the NIC of the VM set to "connect at power on" or have you manually connected it since powering on the VM?

Have you assigned the IP address to the NIC inside Windows? If so, is there connectivity?

[esxi_newbie]

Thank you to both community members who responded below. I moved win 10 box that was seen in the previous screenshot behind OPNsense firewall that has two NICs. One is on vSwitch0 as the management interface and the other one is on vSwitch1 which is shared with Win 10. OPNSense  and Win 10 (via OPNSense) have connectivity with the outside world while Active Ports shows 0 (see screenshot). It doesn't appear that active ports is showing accurate information.

[LavonneStehr]

The "Active Ports" count in the vSwitch topology shows the number of active network connections for a specific port group. If it's at 0, ensure your Windows 10 VM is correctly configured to use the EXT port group. Check both VM and ESXi host settings, as well as physical network connections for any issues. Troubleshooting step by step can help pinpoint the problem.