VM Summary Page General showing other NIC ip address

[ccockle]

This could be a bug

we have a small setup of VC 2 sp2, (1) esx 3.0.1, VM tools 41412

Guest OS windows server 2003

static IP 10..x.x.x. (production network)

static ip 192.168.x.x (backup network)

We noticed this peculiarity in the Virtual Intrastructure Client | Virtual Machine | summary page

In General Settings, the IP address of the VM changes whenever we enable the 2nd NIC in the Guest OS.

The address changes from 10.x.x.x to 192.168.x.x

Both addresses are resolvable and does not pose as a functional problem, however this does cause some management confusion.

Once I disable the 2nd NIC in the Guest OS , the IP address information displayed changes back to 10.x.x.x, but as soon as I enable the 2nd adapter , the IP address diplayed changes to 192.168.x.x again.

we have vSwitch0 (COS), vSwitch1 (VM network), vSwitch2 (Backup Network) .. all on separate vmnics

Any ideas?

[esiebert7625]

I think it only has the capability to display one IP address so it picks the first one listed. I've seen the same behavior. If you look at the IP_ADDRESS column in the VPX_VM table in the database it is only a varchar(16) field which is only enough space for one IP address.

fyi...if you find this post helpful, please award points using the Helpful/Correct buttons...thanks

Message was edited by:

esiebert7625

[ccockle]

Thanks for the detail, however, I'm concerned why it changes when there is already an address listed . (ie 10.x.x.x)

[esiebert7625]

You might try changing the NIC binding order in Network Properties, Advanced, Advancede Settings.

[francisbandi]

We see this if there is hidden devices confifyred for that IP.

at VM dos prompt type

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

and scan for hidden devices and see if you have any hidden network interfaces - delete them or remove IP

[jmcar]

I have excatly the same problem with the same setup.

I have tried putting the public NIC first followed by the Backup NIC in the advanced settings for the network adapters but it doesn't make any difference.

There are no 'orphaned' devices in Device Manager either.

Any more ideas?

[ccockle]

Bind order is correctly set to

Local Area Connection (10.x.x.x)

Local Area Connection 2 (192.168.x.x)

The VC summary page shows Local Area Connection 2 (192.168.x.x) when we want it to display 10.x.x.x (the primary binding)

[ccockle]

No Orphaned devices

[esiebert7625]

Well, I dug around using Process Monitor and have a theory on how it determines which one to pick. The VMwareService.exe polls the server every minute or two and pulls the Network Information from the registry of the PC. It looks at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Linkage\Bind to find the list af adapters, it then \Parameters\Interfaces\ to read the detail on the NIC's. It looks like it chooses the one listed first based on which device ID it sorted first. My ID's look like this

\{AEE78A8D-A80B-460C-849B-E66D668C55EB}

\{785BB548-ABD5-45D9-9630-02E7296A1B55}

So if you can change the device ID of your NIC it would probably choose the other one first. Of course only VMware would know for sure since they coded it.

[jmcar]

Interesting information - thanks for that.

I suspect raising a case with vmware regarding this will give the official line. I'll give it a go and let you know what their response is...

[jmcar]

Official response from VMWare to my SR is as follows:

The Information polled by VMware tools i.e. the IP address will pick the first adapter in your Windows Network Configuration. It will only display one adapter and the order may change as Windows tends to have a problem with refreshing its HAL to reflect the correct active adapter. This is expected behaviour and if further information is required on your IP addresses within this specific Virtual Machine we would recommend that you put it into the notes for that particular VM.

Looks like one that can't be overcome in this version. It doesn't have any adverse impact on a VM running but from an admin point of view can be confusing.

Perhaps in a future version it will report the ip addresses for all virtual nics?

[esiebert7625]

Thanks for the update, you might post something in the feature request forum.

[simonlam]

Is there any other way i can list all the IP addresses on a VM from the ESX host? I am facing this exact issue - the backup IP address

shows up in vmware-cmd output, rather than the primary IP address ...

Regards,

SL

[Krishna_K]

i'm using vSphere 4.0, some of the VMs displays view all option next to IP, some of them doesn't display view all option and of course i do have same problem. Summary page displays secondary NIC IP address instead primary IP address.

appreciate, if someone already have the solution for this bug.

Regards,

Kris