No network after VCenter Server Appliance 6.7 restore

[R_R_Koek]

We had some trouble with a 6.7 vcenter server appliance and I am new to VMware and did some things that might not be smart in hindsight...

Anyway, we restored the vcenter appliance and it will not connect to the network. I suspect the MACAddress has changed with the restore and does not match inside photon and the vm config.

Is this a possibility? How can I fix this? 1. Check the MACAddress inside photon and copy that in the vmconfig? How do I see the macaddress in photon? 2. Or delete the Nic config in photon and reassign the IP address to fix this? Again how todo in photon? 3. something else...

Thanks.

[berndweyand]

do you have distributed switches ? if yes then you maybe have this problem: http://www.etgoesvirtual.com/vmware/vsphere/repair-disconnected-vcenter-server-when-no-ephemeral-por...

[R_R_Koek]

I have Distributed Switches. I will see if your suggestion works in my case.

[R_R_Koek]

Verify that the vCenter is down and the NIC is not connected to the portgroup.

I do see the VM listed in the vSwitch topology overview. Does that mean the VM does have a port assigned?

[sjesse]

If you connect the nic and don't see any options, you don't have any ephemeral port groups, and need to create a temprary standard switch and connect it to that like was mentioned before. Then you can move vcenter back to the distributed switch and remove the standard switch, just make sure you make a ephemeral port group to prevent this issue in the future.

[berndweyand]

i think thats not important.

the procedure for you is to create a standard switch on one host (where vcenter is currently registered, then remove one nic from vds and assign to vss, connect vcenter to the new portgroup on standard switch (via host client)

then start vcenter - should then be visible in the network.

connect to vcenter ui and switch vcenter portgroup back to vds - and revert the temporary settings (standard switch and assignment of the nic)

[R_R_Koek]

vCenter started pinging and port 5480 is up. So that's progress I guess. Now the setup is in progress... and fails.

[berndweyand]

what setup?

how did you restore the vcenter? with backupsoftware like veeam or via ui-installer?

what error messages do you see ?