VM sometimes sees only host

[ideohyperic]

Hi,

We have a basic installation of esxi v5 on an HP server. 1 VM is a windows 2003 server that we did a p2v with the vmware converter tool. No problems there. We created a new VM with windows XP (basic standard installation, not a p2v). The problem that happens sometimes is that this workstation randomly only sees what is on the host. Meaning it can ping the vm server, the host, and nothing else. Sometimes, everything is back to normal and the XP VM sees everything like it's supposed to be. I've tried to delete the NIC, create a new one, add a second NIC, reinstall vmware tools, all basic stuffs. We decided to delete the XP, and created a new one. We have the exact same problem.

Anyone has an idea?

Thanks

[a_p_]

Is you ESXi host connected to a managed switch? In this case make sure the physical port does not have port security enabled (e.g. mode "Desktop"). This mode may limit the number of MAC addresses on the port and prevent a VM from accessing the network.

André

[ideohyperic]

Thanks for the suggestion. The client has a cisco managed switch, with a very old IOS. Cisco asked me to update the firmware before going any further and that maybe just doing this will resolve the issue. I am waiting for the client to give me a date and time to do this, we'll see from then. I will post back when I'll have the results.

Thanks again

[a_p_]

Are you able to access the switch and post the port configuration (from the show run command) for the ports used by the ESXi host?

André