ESX Server Configuration\ Networking tab is empty

[Ameniac]

The configuration - networking tab on a standalone ESX server is totaly empty after ESX 3.01 to ESX 3.5 upgrade. But all network communication is OK and I can access service console.

Here is the configuration

esxcfg-vswitch -l

Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks

vSwitch0 32 3 64 1500 vmnic0

PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks

ManageNet-10.131.8.x0 0 vmnic0

Service Console 0 1 vmnic0

Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks

vSwitch1 64 10 64 1500 vmnic2,vmnic1

PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks

Production-10.131.8.x0 7 vmnic1,vmnic2

Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks

vSwitch2 64 0 64 1500

PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks

VMnet 0 0

-

---

esxcfg-vswif -l ( Is Empty)

Name Port Group IP Address Netmask Broadcast Enabled DHCP

-

---

esxcfg-nics -l

Name PCI Driver Link Speed Duplex MTU Description

vmnic3 0c:00.01 e1000 Down 0Mbps Half 1500 Intel Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller

vmnic0 05:00.00 bnx2 Up 100Mbps Full 1500 Broadcom Corporation Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-T

vmnic1 09:00.00 bnx2 Up 1000Mbps Full 1500 Broadcom Corporation Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-T

vmnic2 0c:00.00 e1000 Up 100Mbps Full 1500 Intel Corporation 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller

-

---

hostd.log

Resource pool configuration: /etc/vmware/hostd/pools.xml

An error occurred while fetching virtual switch: Unable to find Vswitch config

uration for vSwitch0

An error occurred while fetching virtual switch: Unable to find Vswitch config

uration for vSwitch1

An error occurred while fetching virtual switch: Unable to find Vswitch config

uration for vSwitch2

Datastore auto-refresh is disabled.

Datastore alias configuration file is /etc/vmware/hostd/datastores.xml

VM autostart configuration: /etc/vmware/hostd/vmAutoStart.xml

Command /etc/init.d/vmware-vpxa failed

Failed to update service ntpd: vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault

Resource pool instantiated

The switches are there but for some reason the hostd services does not.

Does anybody has any idea what is wrong?

Thanks

Ameniac

[depping]

service mgmt-vmware restart

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

[Ameniac]

I did already restart the mgmt-vmware service. No change.

Is there any vswitch configuration files?

Ameniac

[depping]

can you manually start /etc/init.d/vmware-vpxa ?

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

[Ameniac]

There is no vmware-vpxa service. Is it at all installed in standalone mode without VC server?

I can access the server directly via VMware Infrastructure Client.

Thanks

Ameniac

[jhanekom]

The vSwitch configuration settings are stored in /etc/vmware/esx.conf, I believe. But it is never a good idea to directly modify that.

Can you perhaps see if you can view the networking configuration with the following commands? (Other than the VI client, they're the only supported way of making alterations to the esx.conf file.)

- esxcfg-vswitch -l

- esxcfg-vswitch -l

- esxcfg-vmknic -l

- esxcfg-nics -l

[Ameniac]

jhanekom see my first post for the configuration.

I think the culprit is esx.conf.

Everything is gone except these lines:

/firewall/openedPorts[0000]/name = "esXpressLicenseClient"

/firewall/openedPorts[0000]/port = "64420"

/firewall/openedPorts[0000]/udp.in = "1"

/firewall/openedPorts[0000]/udp.out = "1"

Is there a way to recreate esx.conf?

Thanks

Ameniac

[jhanekom]

Sorry about the silly esxcfg* request... I saw the information, glossed over it to read the rest of the post, then ended up asking for it again.

esx.conf contains a lot of stuff, not just networking configuration. If it's completely empty (except for the few lines you posted), something must have gone wrong during the upgrade.

While it may be possible to reconstruct some of the configuration (if you know what it was before), I would hesitate trusting that system for production use again. If it were mine, I'd re-install.

(One last-ditch chance: there isn't perhaps some kind of backup file such as esx.conf.bk or something that has a more complete configuration?)

[Ameniac]

I don't see any backup files at least not in /etc/vmware, perhaps it is somewhere else.

I do have an image before the upgrade. What would hapen if we replace it with the esx 3.01 copy?

Else I will reinstall it.

The question is how the server is functioning at all without proper configuration of the esx.conf?

Especially since the VI Client shows me all the settings as usually except the networking tab.

Thanks

Ameniac

[nicksta]

Hello,

I'm having the same issue, were you able to resolve this issue?

Or did you have to rebuild the server?

[Rohail2004]

shut down the server,

unplug all the network cables.

plug back in,

restart the host, and then check....

[nicksta]

Had a VMware engineer fix the issue.

He had to replace the esx.conf file (which was corrupted) with a recent backup one from some initXXXXXXX img file.

Had to unzip the file, mount it then get the file and replace the corrupt file.

Restarted network, mgmt-vmware, vmware-vpxa and xinetd services.

Restored the firewall config as well, then voila! The networking tab had information back again!

[rdpfetch]

I am having the same issue - was this 3.5i ( i have 3.5i) and could you possibly pass along the engineers name

because he has experience to fix.

Thanks,

[MauroBonder]

maybe the archive esx.conf is corrupted.

below is a kb about it.

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