Can connect to ESXi host but not to any VMs on it.

[Masteril]

I have a 6.7.0 Update 3 (Build 18828794) ESXi host with VMs that worked fine yesterday.

I can't get to any of the VMs on the host (rdc or web) using IP addresses or domain names.

On the host Navigation pane, all VMs look fine, getting proper IP addresses.

I restarted the host.

I checked all the network configurations on the ESXi host, it matches the other host (the other host is working).

[markey165]

Obviously I don't know your setup, whether it could be a simple connectivity, or a VLAN problem, but a basics to check for starters.

1. In your ESXi host, check which Port Group the problem VMs are using (via edit settings > Network adapter). Then navigate to Networking > Port Groups and check which vSwitch the port group(s) is connected to. Now click on the link for that vSwitch and look at the Topology view. Make sure your connections are showing green on both sides, which indicates connectivity. Also check Networking > VMkernel NICs and familiarise yourself with the vmkernel ports that have been configured, which will help for the next step.

2. SSH to the host. Use the command vmkping -I vmk# targetIP (where -I is a capital i, # is the vmkernel port number and target IP is the IP address of a host the VM would normally be able to talk to. The idea here is to test connectivity over each VMkernel interface to the external network. This should get you started with some basic connectivity tests to narrow down the cause of the problem.

3. Finally check cabling and link lights, check if any work has happened in that rack, and check for any recent switch or VLAN changes (if VLANs are in use) that may have caused this.

HTH 🙂

[NateNateNAte]

The goal is to access via RDP or web, correct?

Were there any network/policy updates made?  Any FW policy that blocks 3389 (RDP) or 443 or 8443 (ssh for web) could be a culprit.

Other thing to look at would be if anyone changed VLAN/VXLAN schema (routing) on the network side. Or was there a change to the network/VLAN on which your client sits - that could impact how you access other infrastructure as well.

Are you able to ssh into any of the VMs? Or even a basic Ping?  Those things will tell you if there is a break in the network connection somehow.  

And I'm also assuming you can launch a VM console session straight from vCenter.  

[Masteril]

I think I found the issue, physical network adapters are only getting 1 IP address in Observed IP Ranges.

Is it provided by the switch?

[markey165]

no idea from that screenshot, but you should really be using static addresses for servers and interfaces, not DHCP, if that's what you mean. 👍

[NateNateNAte]

So I see 3 vmnics assigned to vSwitch 0, and one vmnic assigned to vSwitch 2.  That's OK, but now it leads to the question of how your uplink/downlink ports on the vSwitch are configured, and what VLANs are routed on those up/downlinks. 

If everything is routed through vSwitch 0 somehow, and that specific vmnic is the only path for up or down....that could be an issue.