Adding ESXi Hosts Via Natted IP and vCenter 6.5

[cliffcahill]

Hey,

I'm having an issue at the moment adding ESXI hosts Via their Natted IP address to vCenter VCSA 6.5.

Previously I have successfully used this KB successfully  Using NAT between the vCenter Server system and ESXi/ESX hosts (1010652) | VMware KB for all previous version of vCenter.

The Server IP address in the vpxa.cfg file is correct and port 902 is open and telnet works

I have increased the config.vpxd.heartbeat.notRespondingTimeout via this KB

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=10057...

Here is a tail of the vxpa agent log

2017-07-10T19:00:41.341Z verbose vpxa[8ED0B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-376885b1] Received WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:41.341Z verbose vpxa[8ED0B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-376885b1] Applying updates from 479 to 480 (at 479)

2017-07-10T19:00:41.341Z verbose vpxa[8ED0B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-376885b1] Starting next WaitForUpdates() call to hostd

2017-07-10T19:00:41.341Z verbose vpxa[8ED0B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-376885b1] Completed WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:41.422Z verbose vpxa[8F54B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-2f2143e2] Received WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:41.422Z verbose vpxa[8F54B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-2f2143e2] Applying updates from 480 to 481 (at 480)

2017-07-10T19:00:41.422Z verbose vpxa[8F54B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-2f2143e2] Starting next WaitForUpdates() call to hostd

2017-07-10T19:00:41.422Z verbose vpxa[8F54B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-2f2143e2] Completed WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:42.268Z warning vpxa[8E8EB70] [Originator@6876 sub=Heartbeat opID=SWI-1c06dac8] Failed to bind heartbeat socket for host address 10.12.X.X: Cannot assign requested address

2017-07-10T19:00:45.946Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-30efc29a] Received WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:45.947Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-30efc29a] Applying updates from 481 to 482 (at 481)

2017-07-10T19:00:45.947Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=halservices opID=WFU-30efc29a] [VpxaHalServices] HostChanged Event Fired, properties changed [runtime.healthSystemRuntime]

2017-07-10T19:00:45.947Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxaInvtHost opID=WFU-30efc29a] [HostChanged] Found update for tracked MoRef vim.HostSystem:ha-host

2017-07-10T19:00:45.947Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-30efc29a] Starting next WaitForUpdates() call to hostd

2017-07-10T19:00:45.947Z verbose vpxa[8F33B70] [Originator@6876 sub=VpxaHalCnxHostagent opID=WFU-30efc29a] Completed WaitForUpdatesDone callback

2017-07-10T19:00:46.270Z warning vpxa[8E8EB70] [Originator@6876 sub=Heartbeat opID=SWI-1c06dac8] Failed to bind heartbeat socket for host address 10.12.X.X: Cannot assign requested address

10.12.X.X is the host natted ip address.

[AishR]

VPXA.log is not sufficient. Can we also take a look at /var/log/vmkernel.log, var/log/hostd.log, /var/log/vmkwarning.log on the ESXi host that we are failing to add to vCenter? Also as per KB Using NAT between the vCenter Server system and ESXi/ESX hosts (1010652) , using NAT between vCenter and ESXi host is unsupported.

[cliffcahill · Accepted solution]

Hi Aishr

thank you for replying   - I'm aware it's not supported it a temporary connection in order to use VC to run some PowerCli over the temporarily connected hosts. I Managed to fix the issue afterward.

I had to create a new VMK with the natted IPaddress as the interface IP  ie 10.12..X. Xand stability improved.

"Failed to bind heartbeat socket for host address 10.12.X.X: Cannot assign requested address" error were eliminated

[pratha123]

Hi cliffcahill,

We are facing the same issue, Can you please share the steps you had done to resolve this issue ?

[cliffcahill]

Fix was to create a VMK on vSwitch. Use the ESXi host natted ip address as the VMK interface address.  No vlan is required.

Hope this help.

[ManivelR]

cliffcahill​

Yes.It worked.

In addition,we added this line as well.

1) We added this line in vpxa.cfg "<preserveServerIp>true</preserveServerIp>".After configuring this line,VC Public IP address will not be changed.

2) We added the NAT public IP address in vpxa.cfg "<serverIp>212.*.*.*</serverIp>"

3) And we created a new vmkernel port group(with new vSwitch and no VLAN,no nic binding needed) with ESXi NAT public IP address.

it worked well and thanks much for the inputs.

Thanks,

Manivel RR