VI3 ESX console problem

[Shihan74]

I've been working on "test" server the last couple of days and i've suddenly struck a serious issue (seriously most because of timing of the event).

The esx server is sitting on the same subnet as my VI client. The esx server resolves in dns and I can happily connect to port 902 as well (im telneting from a unix machine because its more usefull in terms of cut-and-pastability.

$ telnet ... 902

Trying x.x.x.x...

Connected to x.x.x.x.

Escape character is '^]'.

220 VMware Authentication Daemon Version 1.10: SSL Required, ServerDaemonProtocol:SOAP, MKSDisplayProtocol:VNC

telnet> quit

Connection closed.

$

Everthing was fine (its been up and running for a good solid week) until i went to install the VMtools into Win2003 SE. Suddenly the VI client started responding with "a connection attempt failed because the connected party did not repond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to repond".

Since then the 4 VM's on the server all respond with the same message when navigating to the console as do any new vm's created. The ESX Server has since been rebooted.

So, theres nothing blocking network traffic, the time between client and server are correct and dns resolves - what else could be an issue with this?

[jayolsen]

You also need tcp 903 open for the remote console traffic. Can you ping the fqdn as well as the hostname?

[Texiwill]

Hello,

From the Service Console look at the file /var/log/vmware/hostd.log as it looks like hostd has died for some reason. It happens.

Then run:

service vmware-hostd restart

to restart the server. Pay attention to the logfile as there could be a configuration issue that prevents it from starting. Try reconnecting then.

Best regards,

Edward

[Shihan74]

Thanks for the info guys.

I couldnt identify any issues with either of the above and so the issue will sadly have to plunge to the depths, because i've also run out of time - time for a rebuild from scratch.