vCenter HA

[slavonac]

Hi

I am trying to configure vCenter HA but any time that i try i get this error

 The operation is not allowed in the current state. The management interface (NIC0) IP address does not map to the vCenter Server PNID.

HA network is in same subnet but Management network for active and passive will be in different networks

Anything special should be done should i clone vCenter manually as Setup HA works only in same subnet

I used this however https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.avail.doc/GUID-5F7DAFB2-60BD-4C50-A...

it only works if management networks of both are in the same subnet but if it is different subnet for management of active and passive it will not work

[a_p_]

Please see whether the steps in https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85579 help.

Especially step 5 "Configure forward and reverse DNS lookup for the secondary management network IP address" is something the needs to be done prior to deploying vCHA using the wizard.

André

[markey165]

Is this error happening during VCHA deployment?

There may be multiple causes to this. Do forward and reverse DNS looks work for the IP on NIC0?

Have a look at this article and see if this aligns with your problem:

https://defaultreasoning.com/2017/06/13/verify-if-management-interface-nic0-is-configured-correctly

HTH

[slavonac]

HI

When I do automatical deployment and active and passive node share the same IP address then I am all good HA is working fine

forward and reverse look up zone are OK

However this is the scenario that I would like to have

Active node

Management IP 172.20.0.40

Passive node will be in different subnet with address 172.20.0.140 with /28 this will put it in different subnet

FOr HA network there is l

Active 192.168.50.50

Passive 192.168.50.60

Witness 192.168.50.70

So the thing is that I want to put management IP of passive node in different subnet and that is not working

[markey165]

---

@slavonac wrote:

Passive node will be in different subnet with address 172.20.0.140 with /28 this will put it in different subnet

---

This is your problem ↑ (Edit: see below, seems it IS supported)

Why does the Passive node have a different management IP address? That's isn't how VCHA works. The wizard doesn't even allow you to configure one, so i'm not sure how you are configuring it? Are you changing it manually?

The Passive node should not configured with any management IP address, only an HA address.  It claims the Active node's Management IP address in the event of a failover.

If you look at the screenshot below, from my VCHA environment. You can see both Active and Passive show as having the same IP. That's how it should be!

HTH

[slavonac]

Hi

Ya this is the way that I have configured it first time and it was working flawlessly no problem it creates it very quick and it works. I have tested failover and it works no problem.

However if i try to change management IP address of passive node then it shows this error

So basically you are saying that that IP address of passive node cannot be changed they have to be shared between active and passive and cannot be changed

[markey165]

@slavonac - Ok it seems what you're trying to do IS supported!

Have a look at this article - "Deploying vCenter High Availability with network addresses in separate subnets" - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/85579

Apologies, i set mine up the standard way (with a shared IP), and didn't realize configuring VCHA across subnets was supported!

I have leaned something new today 

HTH

[slavonac]

ya you can but can you identify this I cannot find this in vcenter  vsphere client right click on what this is gray area

1. Log in to the Active node with the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the vCenter Server object in the inventory and select vCenter HA Settings.
3. Click Configure.
4. Select the Advanced configuration option and click Next.
5. Provide the IP address and subnet mask for the Passive and Witness nodes click Next.
   You have to specify these IP addresses now even though the nodes do not exist yet. You can no longer change these IP addresses after you click Next.
6. (Optional) Click Advanced if you want to override the failover management IP address for the Passive node.
7. Leave the wizard window open and perform the cloning tasks.

[a_p_]

What about the DNS configuration as mentioned in the KB article that I've posted before?
Can you confirm that both management IP addresses (172.20.0.40 and 172.20.0.140) resolve to the vCSA's FQDN?

nslookup 172.20.0.40
nslookup 172.20.0.140

André

PS: Please also verify that the vCSA's PNID looks as expected.

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd//bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost

[Ajay1988 · Accepted solution]

The error is very clear "The operation is not allowed in the current state. The management interface (NIC0) IP address does not map to the vCenter Server PNID."

SSH to vCSA and run ifconfig and share output.
Also run command for PNID : /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd//bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost

If the PNID is IP , then eth0 IP should be same as PNID and not eth1 (reserved for vCHA).
If PNID is FQDN ; then it should resolve to eth0 IP primarily and also eth1 IP.

[slavonac]

does this mean I have to put 2 IP addresses for one DNS record

How DNS would resolve if active fails should it be the same A record with 2 IP addresses

[scott28tt]

You seem to have created a new duplicate post on this topic.