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Dryv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ESXi Server: Non responsive

Hi Guys,

I am hoping me you can help me troubleshoot an issue. I put a host in maintenance mode and subsequently shut it down over the weekend. I powered it back up and now it cant reach vCenter at all. I cant connect to it. The only thing I can do is connect to the iLO. Some observations over iLO:

- The networking configuration (IP, Mask, Gateway) seems to be configured fine

- Running a 'Test Management Network' fails on all tests, so the host cant actually talk to anything (in its own subnet and out of its subnet)

- Restarting Management network does not bring any joy

- Rebooting the host brings no joy

- When I go into Network Adapaters I see VMNIC0 and VMNIC1 as selected for the hosts management network connection. Interestingly though, I ONLY see VMNIC0 and VMNIC1 in this list (the host should see 8 adapters), whereas on other ESXi servers in this cluster, I see all 8 adapters as available and again only VMNIC0 and VMNIC1 selected for the management network.

- All other ESXi servers in the cluster are working fine and on the same subnet as this 'isolated' ESXi Server

- No updates have taken place

- ESXi 5.5.0 (2403361)

- Blade Servers using the HP Virtual connect technology

- On Friday all was working without issue

I dont know where to look to try and identify what the issue could be. Thanks for any help

Dryv

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7 Replies
Dryv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Guys,

Any pointers? i'd really like to try and troubleshoot this before going down the path of rebuilding/replacing the blade

Thanks for any help

Dryv

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martinriley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi there,

Have you checked through the HP Virtual Connect logs to see if there were any related entries at the time of the reboot?  Also what's the status of the Server Ports for this host in the Interconnect Bays on the Virtual Connect?

vM

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VCAP-DCD / VCAP-DCA / VCP-CLOUD / VCP-DT / VCP5 / VCP4

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vMustard.com

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Dryv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Martin

Every looks fine in the virtual connect and the ports dont seem to erroring... all the mappings look good, and the server profile is applied.

Dryv...

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JLackman
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Dryv;

From the ESX troubleshooting / test network console, can it ping the gateway?

If not, it is most likely something in your HP Virtual Connect. Are you running multiple networks in VC?  Make sure the MAC address of the management network that the ESX is on matches the MAC address of the interfaces enabled in the ESX networking console.

ESX; configure management network/network adapters; look at the MAC addresses of the enabled interfaces.

HP VC; server profiles/select the profile of the bay the server is in/look at the MAC of the management network; it should match the one shown above in ESX.

Do you have other blades in this chassis that work?  you could try copying a different profile to this blade, in VC.

Basically, if you cannot ping the gateway, you need to ensure the VC ethernet network and server profile are correct.

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JLackman
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

can you apply the profile from a blade that is working, as a test?

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Dryv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

JLackman,

Thanks for the response... I will try what you mention.

Also, yes I have blades that are in the same chassis (and ESXi cluster) that are working without issue... Like I said, nothing changed from a fully working configuration, apart from a shutdown for this node over a weekend.

Thanks for the direction... I report back.

Dryv

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Dryv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Chaps,

Just an update... it seems its a virtual connect issue... some really strange behaviour. If I reboot servers sometimes they pick up a profile and sometimes they dont. When they dont the profiles reports an 'unmapped' status... which is really very strange... Sometimes servers see their NICs sometimes they dont.

I cant figure out what the issue could be but I dont think its one for this forum. However if you want to continue trying to assist me I would be very very grateful. Thanks for getting me this far.

Dryv

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