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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

can not add esx host to VC "Unable to access the specified host"

"unable to access the specified host, It either does not exist, the server software is not responding, or there is a network problem"

Ive got a VC server with no firewall in between it and the esx hosts (all of them are showing disconnected)and all on the same segment, If i telnet to to the esx host from the windows box using telnet servername 902 it connects ok. But if i try to add the host it fails with the message above.

Ive verified there is no additional file backed up in /etc/vmware/firewall which can cause this issue.

If i try to add the host with an incorrect user and pass, it actually tells me that the password is incorrect, if i try adding using the root account i get the error above.

Windows firewall is disabled on the VC server

esxcfg-vswif -l gives me output showing the correct IP bound to vswif0

Name Port Group IP Address Netmask Broadcast Enabled DHCP

vswif0 Service Console 192.168.0.21 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.255 true false

Anyone have an suggestions on what i should check next ?

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36 Replies
JDLangdon
Expert
Expert

Are you trying to connect via IP address or host name? Since our virtual environment is not communicating with our DNS server, we had to create hosts files on the VC server before we could connect using the host name.

Jason

MattMeyer
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Please check your DNS settings on both the VC server and the ESX hosts. I have a feeling this is where the problem lies.

76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for the reply guys, i was trying to add it by its IP address, any ideas why the existing hosts that were already added suddenly became disconnected and why these can not be added again ? Ill do some nslookups and add an entry in the host file and see if that does anything

Thanks

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Added host entries, and did nslookups to also verify name resolution. Once again i tried to add the hosts but got the same error.

Any other ideas ?

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KnowItAll
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

You need to check some basic things first.

Can you ping the ESX hosts from the VC server?

Can you use the VI Client to connect directly to the ESX hosts bypassing VC?

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi. Yes all communication tests are ok, PING, NSLOOKUPS, I can telnet to port 902 of the esx hosts from the VC server

The virtual Client can not connect directly to the esx hosts either.

I can however SSH via putty.

Ive tried connecting via DNS, IP

Ive also configured --allowIncoming and --allowOutgoing on the firewall of the esx host

One strange thing also, is i can not browse to the web interface on the esx hosts.

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

if i use service vmware-vpxa restart its not coming back and giving me the OK, this could be why... any ideas how to trouble shoot this,

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Tell a lie, it is running. Ive now even stopped the firewall in a last attempt but still no luck... arrgggggg

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I enabled extended verbose logging on the VC server and here is the output from the log file.. any ideas ?

\[2006-11-22 19:09:23.622 'App' 2888 verbose] \[VpxdHostAccess] Attempting to connect to host agent on

\[2006-11-22 19:09:24.059 'VpxdProfiler' 2888 verbose] counter name: /vpxd/methodStats/vim.Datacenter.queryConnectionInfo/TotalTime

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KnowItAll
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Try this:

/etc/init.d/vmware-vpxa stop

then run ps -ef | grep vpxa

There should be nothing in the process list.

then run /etc/init.d/vmware-vpxa start

then run ps -ef | grep vpxa

You should see the vpxa in the process list.

Try using the VI client to connect to the host directly.

let me know.

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76dragon
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

\[root@******* init.d]# ./vmware-vpxa stop

Stopping vmware-vpxa:

\[root@******* init.d]# ps -ef | grep vpxa

root 19824 19768 0 05:33 pts/0 00:00:00 grep vpxa

\[root@******* init.d]# ./vmware-vpxa start

Starting vmware-vpxa:

[root@******* ps-ef | grep vpxa

root 19839 1 0 05:34 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/vmware-watchdog -s vpxa -u 30 -q 5 /usr/sbin/vpxa

root 19844 19839 0 05:34 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/vmware/vpx/vpxa

root 19857 19768 0 05:34 pts/0 00:00:00 grep vpxa

when i try to connect via VC it gives the unable to connect error, if i use the vc client to connect directly to the host it gives "Connection failed"

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KnowItAll
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Then there are 2 possible causes for this.

#1 Either the port that vpxa is listening on has changed.

#2 There is a firewall that prevents the connections.

Is your VC host on the same subnet as the ESX hosts?

If you can not connect to any of your ESX hosts then the likely cause is a firewall blocking the connections.

Plug a laptop with VC Client installed on it in to the same physical switch that the ESX hosts are connected to and see if you can connect then.

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jhanekom
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Also check that the date and time on the VC and ESX hosts are in the same ballpark. SSL doesn't like it if the time on two hosts differ by oh, say, a year or so.

In the same breath, also check the time zones and DST settings of all ESX and VC hosts involved.

You could potentially run into all sorts of issues with self-signed certificates expiring or not being valid yet. But none of that is usually reported by the GUI.

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ChrisRu
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

try to restart mgmt-vmware service an then the vmwware-vpxa

\[root@esx5 root]# service mgmt-vmware restart

\[root@esx5 root]# /etc/init.d/vmware-vpxa restart

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estadler
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

i have tried everything short of rebooting the esx server, there is no firewall between servers either. when i connect to the esx box vi vc client the only thing out of the ordinary is the error i get "A general system error occured: Failed to serialize result". Any ideas would be appreciated.

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Griff-89
Contributor
Contributor

Has this server ever been connected to VC?

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estadler
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

yes it was

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JonT
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am having a very similar issue with my ESX environment right now. We had some power issues due to the high winds last week so our ESX hosts (3.0) got shut down improperly. When they came back up, they seem to be fine but in VC (2.0.1) they showed up as disconnected. I had tried to "reconnect" them and got the same unable to access the specified host error. So I removed all 3 from VC successfully and tried to add again. Same error. I also have verified that I can connect to each host using the VC Client. I also have checked my license server (on the same machine as VC) and it shows the proper amount of licenses issued. When connecting directly to the ESX host I check licensing and all looks well there also. I will keep digging in on this one......any ideas?

Add: I found this other thread that seems to be the solution. I will update if it works in my environment.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=523704&#523704

Message was edited by:

JonT

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JonT
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok I think I have narrowed it down to having the VPXUser still on all my hosts but not in the inventory of VC. I am a total Linux newb so I have no idea how to delete the VPXUser. How is this done?

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