Solved ESXi Management Network HP ProCurve Trunking Issue...
-
We have a new ESXi v6.5 host that we've deployed, and we're trying to get the management network configured and working, but we're having problems. When we only have one NIC selected in the ESXi DCUI, we can ping the host. But when we select the two NICs that are on the trunk that we created, we can't ping the host anymore...
The new host (ESXI2) is a Dell PowerEdge R730xd with 4 NIC ports, and an additional set of 4 NIC ports from a daughter card. The initial goal was to make a trunk with NIC ports 1 and 2 for the management network, then make a separate trunk with ports 3-8 for the VM guest traffic. This new host is connected to an HP ProCurve 3500yl-24G. I've created two trunks (trk1 for management and trk2 for VM guests). trk1 is created from ports 1 and 2 on the ProCurve, and those ports are connected to the physical NIC ports 1 and 2 on the server. I used the following command to create the trunk:
trunk 1,2 trk1 trunk
Quick reference: We have another v6.0 ESXi host (ESXI-1 / an HP ProLiant DL360 G8) at another site, and it too has a trunk for the management network (created with the same command as above), and that trunk is working fine - we can talk to and manage that host without any problems. The switch that ESXI-1 is connected to is a ProCurve E5412zl. This switch and the 3500yl at the other site are both running the same exact firmware ROM version.
The VLAN tagging is exactly the same on the trunk connected to ESXI-1 and ESXI-2 on their respective switches.
Also, the VLAN ID on the hosts themselves is "not set". We don't use or need to have that set (and I've tried it on the new host just to rule it out).
I either need to figure out why the trunk on the new server isn't working (and fix it of course), or I need to just use one NIC port for managment, and create a separate vSwitch from the other trunked ports for the guest traffic (once I can actually get the management network working and connect to the host via the vSphere client). If I go with a single NIC for the management network, how big of a deal is this? A lot of the documentation I've read says that the management network should be configured with at least two NICs.
-
Oh dang! I finally figured it out, but the solution was very counter-intuitive (at least from my perspective)!
I needed to first just connect one physical NIC to the management network, add the host to vCenter, then go into the vSwitch0 and change the "teaming and failover" options to "Route based on IP hash". Then I went back into the DCUI and added the second nic that was part of trk1. I was still able to ping the server and access it after rebooting.
What confused me about this process is that I'm used to only changing the vSwitch options AFTER the host is up and accessible. But I could never get the host up and accessible with multiple NICs.
This was a good lesson learned the hard way. I at least know now that I have to use one NIC initially, gain access to the teaming options, then add more NICs afterwards.
-
Glad that you figured it out.
