esxi server network issues

Your network switch, is it managed or unmanaged?  If it is managed, set the duplex to full for the port the ESXi host is on.

Your ESXi host, what kind of machine is it?(Brand/model)

RAM how much RAM do you have?

Your storage, is it internal or external for the vmfs storage?

What kind of drives is the host using?

Im not sure on the switch questions, its a basic gigabit one with no config options so i guess thats unmanaged?

The host is a custom built machine, amd based, 8 gigs ram, intel pro gigabit nic, adaptec hardware raid card.

Its internal storage a single datastore created by esxi. The drives are sata raid 1 mirror.

I wouldnt have thought the nic was at fault as the managment interface works fine through it.

Is the VM running the latest version of VM Tools?

yes i installed those then rebotted the vm

Have you tried making a new vswitch and getting rid of the old one?

no i have not tried this, so under configuration networking i just remove whats there and re create it?

make a new vswitch first, then remove your old one.

just to be sure, you have checked the security permissions on the folder your sharing?

Back to something you said... " when i copy i end up with cannot read from the source file or disk errors"

Is this when you copy from the guest OS to a networked machine?

yes this vm is not on the domain so when i shared it forced me to enter a username and password, i used my domains admin user and pass and it connected fine, its just slow accessing or doing anyhting with the share.

i just went to add a new vswitch and the only options are add a new vm or vmkernal?

this is copying from a network share to the vm (xp) desktop. (the share is a folder on our office sbs server)

to make a new vswitch you use VM this is just asking you what type of switch you need. Vkernal switch is for vmotion, vcenter, ect.

so i go to the xp vm and do what exactly? sorry i new to this virtual setup.

what version esxi are you using?

latest 4

ok, same as me.

Networking >> configuration >> add networking link

Choose VM

then choose create new switch

ok have added it but it wont let me add the one nic to it as the other network needs it, how do i get around that.

on the properties page of the vswitch there is a ports tab. Add the management network to the list, and make sure vm network is in the list. Then reassign the nic to that switch.

What is the speed set to on your NIC Full, half or auto?

If you have an unmanaged network switch, please set the ESXi host adapter to auto duplex

• Go to the config tab in the VI client click on networking.   
• Click on the properties for the vSwitch 
• Click on Network adapters 
• CLick on the NIC 
• Select Edit 
• Set it to Auto negotiate 

its set to full i set to auto duplex rebooted the node and then tried copying files and same problem.

i also get a message now and again then a new active connection to the console has been made when no one else is connecting? i guess its just losing the connection while im trying to copy files.

I am going to suggest you try adding a second NIC that can be added to a separate vSwitch for guests.

Leave the primary NIC for VI communications.

this is an amd based motherboard and cpu, is it worth me trying a gigabyte intel p31 based board and duel core intel processor (as i have these spare)  to see if the problems go away, or is the mainboard unlikely to the cause of the problems?

i do have intel p35 based board also

I agree with nappy, you should at least try to add another nic before swapping boards and CPU's.

The system I use ESX on is a dual quad-core with 4 nics

i have just ordered a new intel nic as i have no spares so cant test this untill friday now.

i will need some help on the setup of this, so is primary nic for the remote managment and second nic for all the vm traffic?

i take it i just set the managment nic to a fixed ip and both nics plus into my switch.

When the new NIC arrives

• install it 
• start VMWare 
• open your VI client 
• go to networking 
• click on the new vswitch you added 
• click on add 
• add the new nic to the vswitch 
• move the XP machine to the new vswitch 
• test
   

I use static address for the management NIC and DHCP for the VM one. Also if you want to connect to it via hostname instead of IP, I added an entry into my DNS to account for it.

I just assign the management traffic to one and the VM traffic to another.

Got the card today and it works great!

Thanks guys!

Next question how do i get a usb drive to show on the vm thats inserted into my pc?

how are you viewing the vm? through th vi client or rdp?

vi client

USB is not supported in the ESX or ESXi environment.  There have been reports of using NFS shares to get to the USB drive but nothing else from VMWare that is native.

Also some have switched to USB over IP such as this URL http://www.usb-over-network.com/usbnet-solutions/virtual.html

ok but i can rd in the to vm and see usb?

no you cannot do this with VMWare ESX or ESXi...http://communities.vmware.com/thread/229209