Probably just a generic networking problem, but I'm only seeing it with my ESXi server.

So I set up an ESXi server to play around with. I bought an Intel NIC that is on the compatibility list from VMWare so that's not the issue. The server can see it fine and lets me edit the settings for it. The problem is that nothing else on my network can see the server except my router.

I have a Netgear router plugged into an unmanaged GbE switch. All clients on the network are plugged into the GbE switch as well. All clients also have static IPs so there is no conflict there. I configured a static IP on the ESXi server and check the Attached Devices option on the router and it can see the server (shows IP and MAC) but I can't ping it from any other client on the network or access the page to download the VI client.

No clue what the problem could be. I tried tweaking all kinds of settings and I can't get it to work. I tried letting DHCP resolve all the IPs and it came back with my WAN IP for the server, so maybe that points to a problem with the router. Networking isn't really my strength so maybe one of you guys can lead me in the right direction.

Any help is appreciated!

11/30/2008 11:06:55 AM

list ip's and subnet masks you are using for each computer.

11/30/2008 11:48:24 AM

Go to the ESXi console (this thing: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/2781535107_4e1fbb5d6c.jpg), log in as root, go to network settings, and list what you have set here.

also list what subnet you are using for your network

11/30/2008 2:03:24 PM

yea, i should have said mask not masks

but i think me and evan are thinking the same thing

11/30/2008 3:14:03 PM

Quote :

"I tried letting DHCP resolve all the IPs and it came back with my WAN IP for the server"

this makes me think one of two things:

1) you have your cable modem plugged into the switch
2) you put the WAN port in the vlan all your LAN ports are in

11/30/2008 3:57:12 PM

Cable modem is plugged into router, then router into switch.

All clients are some form of 192.168.1.x (currently 2-4 and 50). ESXi server has static IP of 192.168.1.10. Subnet is 255.255.255.0.

If I have time at work tomorrow I throw together a visio. I didn't have much time to mess around with it today nothing has changed.

Like I said, the router sees the server NIC. If I set ESXi to resolve via DHCP, it comes back with 192.168.1.5 (makes sense, next available IP). Can't ping it or get to the VI console. If I set it with the static IP I want of 192.168.1.10, same thing happens. Both times the router shows an attached device at that IP and show the MAC of the NIC, but I can't get any data to or from it.

I may just scrap the project and turn it into a dedicated Linux box. I already have my OpenFiler running on another server, the plan was to consolidate both into one but it's just a couple extra dollars a month to power the Linux box too. Would be cool though to have a few different Linux VMs I could boot based on what I wanted to do (ex different game servers).

12/1/2008 12:24:57 AM

so if you go to http://192.168.1.10 or http://192.168.1.5

you don't get the nice little ESXi webpage?

if not, i'd try using a different nic/cable/switch port...

it sounds like one of the above is fubar

12/1/2008 1:17:30 PM

I vote switch

I remember there being one particular unmanaged 24-port GbE Linksys switch that would bring our entire lab network down when an ESX host was on the same network... none of the ESX host's network adapters were even directly connected to it, it was 2 hops away, but every time we plugged that switch in with an ESX host running no traffic would make it through that switch

the switch worked fine until we started doing some ESX testing and the ESX host in the same configuration worked fine as well with a different switch

never bothered to troubleshoot it beyond replacing the switch to get shit workin'

[Edited on December 1, 2008 at 1:37 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2008 1:35:30 PM

the only switches that seem to not like ESX are ones that do port security based on MACs... as ESX trunks a whole lot of virtual NICs over that one NIC

12/1/2008 2:06:30 PM

Yeah I get nothing if I go to the IP. I can't even ping it.

I'll try a new switch port. Another NIC isn't an option since ESX only includes a very small selection of drivers. I have 1 NIC that is compatible and it's the one that I'm already using. I'll try plugging the server directly into the router too to see if that makes a difference, don't see why it would though but who knows.

Thanks for the help, I'll post back when I get a chance to play with it some more, hopefully tonight.

12/1/2008 2:18:22 PM

^ESX actually has a pretty wide selection to choose from, or, at least, it has modules for just about all the enterprise-grade NICs i've tried.

e1000's are very easy to come by... we use those and the broadcom quad ports that come onboard the PER900s

12/1/2008 7:29:41 PM

esxi is a huge ball of fucking dookie. I had a very similar problem. esxi, eventhough it says supports stuff, doesn't really. I had a box overflow the stack on a gigE switch after installing esxi on it. unplugged the esxi box and everything worked fine. if you're using an intel chipset with a c2d it's likely the same or similar issue and completely undocumented.

12/2/2008 6:54:11 PM

i haven't really had any problems with esxi

and you can't beat the price

12/2/2008 8:09:29 PM