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JasonVmware
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Failover with VM Network not working

Hello All,

I currently have a setup like the following:

vswitch0

Service Console - vmnic0 - set to failover for Vmkernel

Vmkernel - vmnic2 - set to failover for Service Console

vswitch1

Vmnetwork - vmnic1, vmnic3 - Route by oringinating Port ID

Now when I pull the network connection out of vmnic1 to test the failover for the VM's it doesn't failover ? shouldn't vmnic3 failover for vmnic1 if it fails untill vmnic1 comes back online? I tested it the other way by pulling the cable on vmnic3 as well same result. All the vm's on the ESX server are assigned to a specific nic as it should with oringinating port ID however I was under the impression that the nics would failover for each other in the event of a failover ?

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Ken_Cline
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Issue the following command from the service console before and after pulling the network cable:

esxcfg-nics -l

That's a lower case "L" on the command line.

Ken Cline

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/

Ken Cline VMware vExpert 2009 VMware Communities User Moderator Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/

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Ken_Cline
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Check out my blog. I've started a series of posts on vSwitches that should help you understand what's going on.

I'm not sure I understand this part of your post:

All the vm's on the ESX server are assigned to a specific nic

Can you clarify, please?

Ken Cline

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/

Ken Cline VMware vExpert 2009 VMware Communities User Moderator Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/
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JasonVmware
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Well for instance my vmnic1 and vmnic3 are teamed for the VM Network portgroup with orginating port ID turned on as suggested by best practices. With that being said lets say I have 3 Vm's on my ESX server. vmnic1 would get 2 of the vm's while vmnic3 would get the last vm to handle network traffic. So when I pull the cable out for vmnic1 the 2 vm's that are using that nic as its psyhical connection to the world drops off the network as you would expect, however I thought that vmnic3 would eventually pickup the slack for the VM's on vmnic1. Does this make it any clearer ?

When I do the failover testing i'm seeing which psyhical nic the VM's are linking to as they loose connection when I pull the plug but with 2 nics being in the team on the ESX side I woudl of thought the other nic would pickup the load leaving little downtime in the event of a nic failure?

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benutzername
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Hi,

could you please post the relevant Info´s of your Network Configuration as a screenshot? We need more input.

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Ken_Cline
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There should be failover...assuming ESX sees the link state transition. ESX or ESXi? What kind of pNICs? What kind of pSwitch?

Ken Cline

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/

Ken Cline VMware vExpert 2009 VMware Communities User Moderator Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/
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JasonVmware
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The pNics are NetXtreams and Broadcom's nics. The systems in question are part of a blade and have 2 onboard nics and 2 pci nics which are is a daughter card. The pSwitchs are HP's 2800 series. All hardware is on the compadability list.

What is happening is in my VM Network port group on vswitch1 has vmnic1 and vmnic3, which both work well. However if I pull out the cable to goes to vmnic1 or pnic 2 only half of the vm's loose connection. While the other have stay online as they seem to be running on vmnic3. I was under the impression that if you have 2 nics teamed for your VM network and set to orginating port ID they would failover for each other?

I am unable to get a screenshot of the networking untill Monday as I won't have access to the lab till then.

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JasonVmware
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Hello,

I have included some pics of the network setup. My 2 nics in the VM Network will not failover for each other. So if 1 of the nics where to die or become unplugged some VM's will loose connection. Any help with this would be greatly appricated.

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JasonVmware
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Anyone else shed some light on this as it will still not failover properly ?

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Ken_Cline
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Issue the following command from the service console before and after pulling the network cable:

esxcfg-nics -l

That's a lower case "L" on the command line.

Ken Cline

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/

Ken Cline VMware vExpert 2009 VMware Communities User Moderator Blogging at: http://KensVirtualReality.wordpress.com/
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