Vmware Infrastructure Client gets an error when trying to connect to "localhost"

[gkodessa]

Up to a few days ago all was well, we created a virtual machine , installed a vm infrastructure client and used it to manage esx 3.5 server

somehow the connection to the server was lost, we restarted the infrastructure client and tryed to login to "localhost", got the following error: Vmware infrastructure Client could not establish the inintial connection with the server "localhost"

interesting part is that the client connects just fine when we connect to the server ip: 192.xxx.xxx.xxx

however when we replace the ip address with "localhost" we get the error: Vmware infrastructure Client could not establish the inintial connection with the server "localhost"

tried restarting the machine, still get the same error

any ideas?

[RParker]

somehow the connection to the server was lost, we restarted the infrastructure client and tryed to login to "localho

Just so we are clear, localhost refers to the machine where the vCenter Service is running.... you can't use localhost across the network, because whatever machine you run the VIC from will use THAT localhost IP.

What happens when you ping 'localhost', what IP do you get? I bet it's a different IP, and you are on a different machine.

You should use the name of the server, not IP or 'localhost'. Always use fully qualified names.

[gkodessa]

we've always been using "localhost" to login

yes, localhost is the machine where the vCenter Service is running, it's on the same subnet as the esx server

when i ping localhost i get 127.0.0.1

[RParker]

yes, localhost is the machine where the vCenter Service is running, it's on the same subnet as the esx server

OK, so what is the machine name? Did you trying using the machine name instead? Fully qualified name. If your machine is VCenter1 on ESX.com you can use vcenter1.esx.com to connect, instead of localhost.

Something has changed, that's why you can't connect 'localhost' Try the machine name. Since you can use 192.xxx.xxx.xxx to connect, that same fully qualified name can be used, and you can accesss that same name from anywhere on your network.

[gkodessa]

tried connecting to name of the machine - still and error

just to clarify, the ip address we connect to - it's an ip address of the esx server, so we're connecting to esx server directly

before we connected to localhost and had an ability to use plugins as well as to manage other servers

[RParker · Accepted solution]

before we connected to localhost and had an ability to use plugins as well as to manage other servers

Ah now I see. vCenter service is it running? Try to restart the service. I am thinking the vCenter service has a problem, which is why you have to connect direct to ESX server instead of using virtual center.

[gkodessa]

hey, what do you know, starting the service solved the problem,

it's set to autostart, but for some reason didn't, strange... oh well, thanks for your help!