DNS was not working, I think...

[aluciani]

I've taken this exam and when I started, I could not connect to vCenter or any other devices by DNS.

I spent too much time on this, its strange because I was able to connect to the vMA using IP and then was able to ping the devices using their DNS name

For the rest of the exam, I used IPs ... was just wondering if other folks had the same issue, this was very frustrating?

BTW - I tried both FQDN and just the name

Thought?

[scott28tt · Accepted solution]

Did you ask the administrator at the testing centre to log an error report?

If it could make the difference between you passing or failing, I would now email certification@vmware.com with details of your exam and what you think was "wrong".

[aluciani]

Thanks for the feedback Scott! I will send the email today.

[Ashley004]

I would like to add my name to this as well, I experienced the same issue.

I could not successfully ssh or login using the VI client using DNS names for the ESXI hosts, eventually managed to connect using IP's, when I did an nslookup the IP's listed were completely different to the ones listed in vCenter for the hosts, initially thought and spent time trying to troubleshoot this thinking it was part of the troubleshooting needed.

I lost about 20 + minutes trying to understand this, and as you know time is not on your side during this exam.

I raised an incident straight after the exam, but have since been told because I didn't raise it at the start there is very little that can be done.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

aluciani/Ashley004 please send me a private message with your VMW#

Thanks

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

Aluciani and Ashley, I located your exams and I'm looking at your kits now. 

I do not see any issues with DNS to the hosts, vCenter or VUM.  As expected there is no DNS resolution for VMA-kitname-a and vCLI-kitname-a.

Are you sure no DNS was working at all?  The vSphere client could not connect unless you typed in the IP addresses?

[aluciani]

Strange, because when I tried connecting with the vsphere client using DNS it would not resolve, but it worked with IP

I should have stopped my exam and notified the testing center - my fault (I know for next time)

Joshua, thanks for looking into this - I am taking this exam again August 16 at a different testing center

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

All the machines use the same DNS server, so DNS not working for the initial desktop would break VC>host connectivity since they are set up by FQDN.  No console access etc.

[aluciani]

Ok got it!

Will try again August 16 ... looking forward to getting this certification;-)

[jroyale]

Hi Josh

I have to say I suffered the same issue trying to gain access to the ESXI hosts via the vsphere client via DNS.  I skipped a question as I couldn't logon to these...  I should have tried the IP, but didn't have time to waste resolving an issue...

I could gain access to the VCenter server, but not the hosts...  I'm wondering if this was an issue or whether I just mistyped the DNS name several times..

[Serismiscool]

When I took the exam a few months ago I can remember that I ran into the same issue. I thought it was just a curve ball being thrown in.

Glad to know it wasn't just me.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

Anyone remember what desktop they were on when they had DNS issues?

There are four desktops you could conceivably be trying to contact the hosts from:

The initial "launchpad" desktop with no taskbar or desktop icons

The vc-kitname-a vCenter server

The vCLI-kitname-a vCLI "desktop" machine

The vMA appliance for each kit

I have manually checked DNS lookup for each host on all of the launchpad desktops, and they all work.  Note that if you can hit vCenter and open any VM console then DNS to the hosts is working fine from that desktop (and the vCenter server).

The vCenter machine has the hosts added by FQDN so DNS works there.

vCLI and vMA use the same DNS sever as the launcher desktop and vc- but I have not checked them all. However I have not heard complaints mentioning vMA.

[aluciani]

I believe I used The initial "launchpad" desktop with no taskbar or desktop icons.

I am re-taking the exam tomorrow 8:00am at a different testing center - fingers crossed 😉

[jroyale]

Hope you passed this time and didn't encounter the same issues..

[jroyale]

Took mine again on Friday and passed.  Safe to say I never experienced any DNS issues this time round.  I do wonder if I panicked a bit the first time round and just did some mistyping... 

One piece of advice for any takers of these VCAP exams.  Read the questions very carefully to make sure you don't miss anything and remain calm.  Its very easy to rush things and miss what you are supposed to do...

Time to get the Vsphere 6 beta labbed up now.

[vEddYcro]

Just to confirm - I had the same problems with DNS today. I went through this thread before so I knew it could happen but... the problem still exists.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

What kit were you on?  What component were resolving from?  What component were you trying to resolve?

Thanks

[vEddYcro]

I really don't know from the top of my head which kit it was. For example, if I remember correctly, resolving worked perfectly from vMA, while it didn't work at all from my main desktop. When I was doing some PowerCLI, I was trying to reference a vcenter host by name, it threw me out with an error message (and yes, I triple-checked if I did a typo and I didn't). When I replaced it with IP address, it started working.