ESXi Lab Setup Problem...

[Timmax]

Hi guys

I am hoping someone might be able to help out with what seems like a really basic network problem when setting up my vSphere lab.  I'm really not a totally novice with this stuff, but I have been tearing my hair out over the weekend on this one!!

My setup consists of two physical ESXi host servers, both running ESXi 5.1.  Both have static IPs using the on-board NICs (I haven't yet installed additional NICs) and are conencted to a very basic HP switch.  I am using an Iomega Storcenter NAS, also with a static IP, for storage.  My intention is to setup a couple of VMs on one host, and make one a DC, and then install vCenter Server on the other; and then build up my lab from there.

So, the problem - I am experiencing problems with network conenctivity when both ESXi hosts are running.  If I run a couple of command prompt screens and continuously ping both hosts I get loads of time-outs.  I've tried pinging the NAS at the same time, and that pings away perfectly.

I've managed to narrow down the situation to the point where I've now discovered that running just one ESXi host works absolutely fine.  If I continuously ping the host that is running, it responds perfectly.  Then, if I boot the second host the pings start timing out sporadically on the first host as soon as the second comes up.

Now, I should probably add that my means of connecting to the hosts is that I have conencted the switch to my wireless router.  But I've tried hard-wiring my laptop to the switch instead, and the result is the same.  (I've also connected all devices to my wireless router to rule out the switch).

So I guess my question is, what could be causing this apparent network conflict between my two ESXi hosts?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Thanks

Tim

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

please provide some details about the network configuration, e.g. screen shots of the vSwitches and port groups as well as "Configuration" -> "DNS and Routing" for each host.

André

[Timmax]

Hi Andre - thanks very much for your reply.

I unfortunately cannot post any screenshots until I get home and power things up.  But certainly I can post later.

In the meantime, if it helps at all I can say that the IP configuration is pretty much "out of the box".  Literally all I have done is configured static IP, subnet mask and gateway for each host.  These are:

ESXi1

IP address - 192.168.100.10

Subnet mask - 255.255.255.0

Gateway - 192.168.100.254 (this is my adsl wifi router)

ESXi2

IP address - 192.168.100.11

Subnet mask - 255.255.255.0

Gateway - 192.168.100.254

I haven't changed anything on the vSwitching or port groups yet.  And my storage network is on the same range as the management network at the moment, because I haven't yet installed additional NICs in the hosts.

I did read another thread about MAC address conflicts, and to be honest I hadn't considered this, but I would have thought that was very unlikely?

Thanks again.

[Timmax]

Hi again

I've attached screenshots of the network settings for my first host.  The settings for the second host are basically the same, except the host's IP ends in 11 rather than 10.

Hope this helps!?

Thanks for any help!

[gbhorne]

Can you try changing ESXi2 host IP to xxx.xxx.xxx .20 and see if the ping responds? What kind os HV are you using in this lab? Is it Workstation?

[Timmax]

Hey - thanks for replying to my post.  I've just changed the ESXi2 host IP to xxx.xxx.xxx.20 as directed, but no change

One thing I have just discovered; the NICs on both my ESXi hosts have the exact same MAC address.  Is this a problem?!

[gbhorne]

Have you a DC with ESX1 entries? What HV are you using, workstation?

[a_p_]

One thing I have just discovered; the NICs on both my ESXi hosts have the exact same MAC address.  Is this a problem?!

That's definitely an issue and most likely the reason for what you see!

In case this is a virtual lab, change the MAC address of one of the hosts. In case you cloned the virtual ESXi hosts you may also run into more issues when you try to add them to a vCenter Server environment!?

André

[Timmax]

Thanks André - I agree, the mac address conflict is causing the problem!  I really don't know how on earth I have managed to do that!!?

Anyway - I guess I need to chnage the mac on one of my ESXi hosts.  But the problem is I am afraid I don't know how!? :smileyconfused:

My two host servers are physical machines (they're Fujitsu servers) and only have a single NIC in each at the moment.  I just can't figure out how to either change the mac address, or remove the nic and re-add it so it gets a new address?

Any advice on changing the mac address would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance

[a_p_]

Did you do a fresh installation on each of the hosts or did you clone them somehow (or even switch NICs)? The MAC address for each NIC is supposed to be unique!? If the hosts only have a single NIC your options are limited and it might be best to reinstall the host with the "wrong" MAC address. If there is another - unused - NIC in the hosts you may be able to resolve this by switching the Management Network NIC in the host's DCUI or through the GUI if only one host is up and running.

André

[Timmax]

Its really odd!!  Thinking back, I had loads of problems getting ESX to install on one of the servers because it had on-board RAID and 4 disks - and the ESX install had a problem seeing a volume to install to.  Anyway - in the end I installed to a USB drive, and booted from that.  But I guess I swapped the USB drive to the other server!

Anyway - these servers only have one on board nic - so no chance of removing I guess

I shall do a re-install now.  I guess that'll fix it!  I will report back.....

Thanks very much for the advice!

[a_p_]

Just found http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1031111 which might help resolving the MAC address issue without a re-installing the host.

André

[Timmax]

Hi Andre

Thanks so much for posting this KB.  Unfortunately I had just started re-installing ESXi on the host!! But really it didn't matter.  It didn't take long to get it back on line, and now its got a new mac address and my lab is coming together really nicely!

Thanks again for all your help anbd advice, which is very much appreciated!