VMXNET3 & Domain Connection Problems

[tkutil]

I created 2 new VMs using the VMXNET3 NIC which are running W2K3R2. Sporadically, users cannot login with RDP and receive and error statind the Windows cannot connect to the domain because the  domain is down or otherwise unavailable.

Since I have never seen this error before with VM and these are the 1st servers with the VMXNET3 nic I am assuming it is related. Has any one seen this problem before.

ESX4.0 Update1

Thanks

[bulletprooffool]

Hi,

Have you installed the VM Tools on these VMs?

Should resolve Driver issues etc.

[tkutil]

I have and even did a repair. It seemed to fix one server, but not the other.

Troy Kutil

[DSTAVERT]

Try removing the NIC  from the vSphere client, and then removing netwoking in the guest. Restart the guest. Add the NIC in the vSphere client and scan for hardware changes in the guest. Re apply settings etc.

[admin]

Can you try and ping the VM IP address when RDP access is down?

If the ping works, it's probably something in higher layer than driver. (e.g. firewall)

If the ping doesn't work, it should be driver issue. Try reinstall the driver.

[npeter]

You have mentioned that you are getting error  'statind the Windows cannot connect to the domain because the  domain is down or otherwise unavailable'

Please check DNS settings for this machine and make sure domain is always resolvable and reachable.

[mikblizz]

Can be a Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) problem on your VM.

These issues occur because of several problems with the Windows Server 2003 SNP features that are enabled in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. These features include Receive Side Scaling (RSS) and TCP/IP Offloading.

Turn these features off on the VM:s that give you trouble:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496

Some applications that rely on network performance (small and many packets) will be slow disabling SNP. If you need performance enable SNP and use VMXNET3 (you need to enable RSS on the adapter).

/Mik