Cannot migrate vmkernel management interface to a virtual distributed switch on ESXi 5.0 and 5.5

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot migrate the vmkernel management interface to distributed virtual switch
• You may see one or both of these errors:
  • A specified parameter was not correct
  • Call "HostNetworkSystem.UpdateNetworkConfig" for object "networkSystem-121" on vCenter Server "vCenter50 in czw.local" failed.
    
    
• The hostd.log file contains entries similar to:
  
  2012-02-10T15:54:09.649Z [FFE92A90 error 'NetworkProvider' opID=DA1DFDC2-00001B02-41] Unknown port type [0]: convert to UNKNOWN.
  2012-02-10T15:54:09.721Z [FFE92A90 info 'NetworkVmkSimulator' opID=DA1DFDC2-00001B02-41] Portgroup Management Network has 1 client[s] connected to it
  2012-02-10T15:54:09.721Z [FFE92A90 info 'HostsvcPlugin' opID=DA1DFDC2-00001B02-41] Simulate failed

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

The network coredump functionality in ESXi 5.0 allows for capturing diagnostic data via the network in the event of a purple diagnostic screen.

When you enable coredump functionality, you can specify which interface should be used (most likely only one of the vmkernel management network interfaces). It means that portgroup/vmkernel cannot be deleted. If you remove the vmkernel interface (which is configured for collecting vmkernel coredump), the migration process fails and a purple screen error occurs.

For more information, see Configuring an ESXi 5.x host to capture a VMkernel coredump from a purple diagnostic screen via the Network Dump Collector</u>.

Resolution

To confirm the network coredump is enabled, run this command:

#esxcli system coredump network get

Enabled: true

Host VNic: vmk0

Network Server IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Network Server Port: 6500

For example, if you have more than one Management Network interface configured and one of them is dedicated for use with network dump then you may have to disable the debugger using esxcli before migrating that active management vmkernel interface from VSS to VDS:

esxcli system coredump network set --enable false

To reconfigure the other vmkernel interface to capture vmkernel coredump, see Configuring an ESXi 5.x host to capture a VMkernel coredump from a purple diagnostic screen via the Network Dump Collector (2002955).

Migrate the interface after disabling network coredump functionality and verify if the esxcfg-vswitch -l shows only one used port for the Management network.

Additional Information

To be alerted when this document is updated, click the Subscribe to Article link in the Actions boxFor more information, see:

• vSphere Command-Line Documentation

• vSphere Management Assistant Documentation

• vSphere PowerCLI Documentation

Configuring an ESXi 5.x host to capture a VMkernel coredump from a purple diagnostic screen via the Network Dump Collector

Impact/Risks:
You may potentially lose network connectivity.