Vcenter unable to connect to ESXI, fresh installation on desktop computer

[msilva01]

I'm running vsphere 6 eval version at the moment, or at least attempting to. I know this can be more difficult, but i am running both on the same computer, but with 3 different HDD's. Below are my computer specs, i don't believe power or hardware is the issue.

16 DDR3 RAM

AMD FX(tm) - 8150 Eight-core processor

HDD 1 - SSD primarily running windows OS - 240GB

HDD 2 - Caviar Black 2.5TB

HDD 3 - Caviar Blue 500 - Bare metal HDD with ESXI installed directly onto it

I have Vcenter installed on my 2.5TB HDD so while they are on the same computer they are on separate hard drives with different OS. I did it this way to attempt to simulate a closer representation of a real environment 

I've tried connecting by both the static IP i have set as well as the hostname but both are returning the same error message. "vsphere client could not connect, an unknown connection error occurred. (the request failed because of a connection failure. (unable to connect to the remote server))."

Since they are on the same machine and technically using the same IP address I ran a test with disabling both ipv6 and ipv4, however that failed as well. The most recent step i have tried to enabling SSH and shell script, I'm currently going through a few KB's looking for a solution.

My end goal with this is to create a working, or several, working VDI terminals as well as configure windows server 2008 and a citrix server (if i have the space for both that is) and then purchase a domain and publish the machines to it. I have a job interview coming up in the next few weeks and I'd like to be able to show a functioning product/lab in the interview, but well see if that's possible.

any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

[a_p_]

I actually don't really understand your setup, i.e. how you can run ESXi as welll as another OS at the same time!? Can you please clarify this?

André

Note: Discussion moved from VMware ESXi 5 to VMware ESXi 6

[msilva01]

I think i phrased that poorly. So on HDD 1 and 2 windows 10 is installed. on HDD 3 ESXI is installed. once the install and configuration is setup for ESXI on HDD 3 I boot my PC into windows 10 like normal. From there I launch vCenter and try to connect to ESXI

[a_p_]

If I understand you correctly, you powered off ESXi to boot into Windows again!? So how should vCenter Server be able to connect to the host if it is not running?

André

[msilva01]

the HDD that ESXI is on still has power, is running,is detectable, and i can navigate to it and every folder in the partitions that ESXI creates when I boot into windows. When I exit ESXI after configuration I select restart, not shutdown. It is my understanding that this means it's still running, but now i'm thinking i may be mistaken.

[a_p_]

ESXi is an operating system (like Windows, Linux, or other ones), and will only run if you boot from it. vCenter Server will only be able to connect to the ESXi host if it's up and running, i.e. the required services to connect to are available.

André

[Camero]

Following white paper gives you the basic fundamentals of Virtualization- https://www.vmware.com/pdf/virtualization.pdf

You may already know what is virtualization, since there seems to be some confusion here when it comes to the hardware, I thought of providing the link to clear your doubts if any.

As a.p. stated,  ESXi like any other OS, needs to be in running state, which is when vCenter server can connect to the ESXi. 

If you have resource constraints (limted Hardware) you may use the Player (Virtual Machines & Multiple Operating Systems: VMware Workstation Player | United States) installed on any regular OS (windows or Linux) and create required VMs to run ESXi, vCenter server (with windows based) or vCSA(appliance) .