See NIC in vSphere but not through MOB

[mbaldw15]

In vSphere 4.1, there are a few VMs that are exhibiting odd behavior.  They report to the vSphere client that they have a NIC, and I am able to access them through tools like putty.  However, when I view the details of the VM through the webservices or the MOB, the value of "net" (a GuestNicInfo array) is "Unset".  I am getting this NIC info by going from VM > "guest" (GuestInfo) > "net" (GuestNicInfo Array).

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this odd behavior?

Thank you

[lamw · Accepted solution]

So you're looking at two completely different thing, what I mean by this is when you present or allocate a vNIC to a VM, you're just doing that. Within the guestOS, you will have a new interface with a MAC Address associated with it. From the API's perspective, you've given it a vNIC so you can see that via the virtual hardware array. The property you're referring to is "guestOS" specific information which is only presented back through API property you're referring to if the guestOS is running VMware Tools. It's unset because most likely you're not running VMware Tools or it is not running on the guestOS.

[BenN]

The above is exactly right.

To see information on the virtual NIC device, go VM->config->hardware->device. Network devices (sub-typs of VirtualEthernetCard) usually have device

keys in the 4000s.