Question

Any reason why the service console is not reachable outside its own VLAN

Asked by: stemc

I have 2 recently built VMWare ESX3.x servers.  All appeared to be fine on them when I set them up in our server room, i.e. I could access the service console for configuration and building of VM's etc.

I have now relocated to my office and desktop PC, which is on a different VLAN to the ESX servers and the servcie console is not reachable (via ping's of SSH connections).   So ... In summary the service console can only be reached via machines on the same VLAN as the service console.

I have made an SSH session on to the service console and done a ping to my desktop (and several other devices across several VLANS) which responds fine, thus proving the networking and defualt gateway is set up fine.  ALSO when I ping my desktop PC from the service console it appears to open up a hole in the firewall and enables me to access the service console from my desktop PC (shortly after I kill the ping my desktop PC loses the access to service console again).

There doesn't appear to be anything in our network set-up that would cause problems like this, is there something in ESX I need to configure, for example a firewall setting  ?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-11-26 at 06:24:56ID22982377
Tags

console

,

service

,

esx

Topics

VMware

,

Linux Networking

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
12

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. VMWARE ESX virtual machines are reachable by network
    We have changed our VMWARE ESX 2.1 server to another VLAN and change the ip address. 3 x 1 GBit ethernet cards are bundled and are 1 eth0 interface in Red Hat. The virtual machines use load balanced the 3 nics as 1 networkcard. The strange thing is that when we have ...
  2. VLAN tagging during Linux installation in VMWare ESX : Li…
    I would like to just zoom into my specific problem here : The HP Proliant 480C comes with a Layer3 switch (Gbe2c model) built in : a)we have succeeded in building a Windows guest client inside this VMWare server earlier. The Windows client has an IP addr 10.51.x....
  3. VLAN will not work on ESX server
    I created a new port group attached to vSwitch1 with a VLAN ID of 4. I have a guest machine that I moved from VLAN 3 to this new port group. The guest machine can not talk to ANY computer on it's network although it can ping itself. I get a "destination unreachable&qu...
  4. Vlans and VMware
    I have a cisco switch that has multiple vlans. Currently, I have 2 vm servers with 4 nics. The 4 nics are plugged into ports that are vlan1. I am going to set up a new virtual machine that needs to be plugged into a vlan2 port. What would be the best way to accomplish this?
  5. Create VMs on VLAN
    Anybody has instruction on how to create VM on VLAN? Thanks
  6. add another vlan into vmware
    Hi there i am currently using a hp c7000 enclosure with 2 x cisco 3020 switches and 2 x hp 4gig fibre channel pass through modules. i am using vmware for all our servers which is on a seperate vlan i have the need for a new server which will need to be on another vlan howe...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: MorDrakkaPosted on 2007-11-26 at 06:57:02ID: 20350193

Hi,

On a limb here, but is your physical switch port configured as a trunk port ?

M

 

by: stemcPosted on 2007-11-26 at 07:13:11ID: 20350306

Yes.

Some additional info ....

I have the service console connected to a vswitch which uses VMNic's 0, 1 & 2.

VMNic 0 is active with VMNic's 1& 2 as stand-by.  All ports are configured identically (all ports configured as trunks).

Any virtual server also on the same Vswitch (using VMnics's 1 & 2 as active with 0 as standby) work and behave fine, i.e. reachable from any VLAN.

 

by: WeHePosted on 2007-11-27 at 13:52:06ID: 20361620

Did you assign the VLAN also to the portgroup where the service console is connected to?

 

by: stemcPosted on 2007-11-28 at 03:53:32ID: 20364802

WeHe, thanks for the reply .....

Yes I have the VLAN configured on the same portgroup (the name is VLAN 230).

The VLAN 230 uses vnic 1 & 2 and the service console uses vnic 0 (with vmnic 1 & 2 as standby).  

 

by: WeHePosted on 2007-11-28 at 04:07:00ID: 20364870

Your answer is confusing me a little.
Which portgroup is the service console connected to? and which VLAN is configured for that pg?
Which portgroup are the virtual servers connected to? and which VLAN is configured for that pg?

 

by: stemcPosted on 2007-11-28 at 04:25:51ID: 20364937

Yep, it was a little confusing ...

I have a vswitch (vSwitch0) with 3 network cards assigned to it and active (vmnic 0, 1 & 2).  

This vswitch has 2 VLAN's configured on it : Vlan 230 and Vlan 231, I have servers assigned to both of these VLans and they are working fine, respond to ping's and RDP sessions from anywhere on our WAN.  

The vswitch also has the Service Console assigned to it, the ip address for it is from the 230 Vlan and the VLAN ID (Optional) setting in the service console properties is set to 230.

Service console uses vnic 0  with vnic 1 & 2 as standby.   The VLANS 230 & 231 use vnic's 1 & 2, with vnic 0 set to unused.

Hope this makes sense !

 

by: WeHePosted on 2007-11-28 at 04:45:13ID: 20365033

I am sorry but you can not assign a vlan to a vSwitch.
It is allways assigned to a portgroup.
Also VM's are not assigned to a vSwitch, they are assigned to portgroups.

 

by: stemcPosted on 2007-11-28 at 05:06:03ID: 20365134

Sorry, I'm not up to speed on the terminology yet, it should have read :

This vswitch has 2 port Groups configured on it, named Vlan_230 and Vlan_231, I have servers assigned to both of these port groups and they are working fine, respond to ping's and RDP sessions from anywhere on our WAN.  

The vswitch also has the Service Console assigned to it,the VLAN ID (Optional) setting in the service console properties is set to use 230, the same VLAN ID that protgroup VLan_230 is using.

Service console uses vnic 0  with vnic 1 & 2 as standby.   The port groups  VLAN_230 & VLAN_231 use vnic's 1 & 2, with vnic 0 set to unused.

 

by: WeHePosted on 2007-11-28 at 05:14:54ID: 20365180

Did you try to use vnic1 for Service console ?
The same issues?

 

by: stemcPosted on 2007-11-28 at 06:46:28ID: 20365777

Yes I have tried all vnic's indvidually assigning as active to the service console, still get no response from any PC other than those on the same VLAN as the service console.

 

by: WeHePosted on 2007-11-28 at 09:33:52ID: 20367106

Strange behaiving.
log into the service console and compare "iptables-save" results with a working one.
compare "esxcfg-vswif -l", "esxcfg-route -l" and  "esxcfg-vmknic -l".
and finaly, how sure are you about your network?
an at this point i am out of ideas.
reinstall this server completle :)

 

by: stemcPosted on 2008-02-18 at 07:19:02ID: 31410972

the problem was caused by the secondary service console (added as a backdoor in case there was a problem with the primary service console) .  It had a type on the subnetmask of the vwitch is was connect to, this caused all the issues.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...