Changing Beacon Probing settings using the command line

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article describes changing Beacon Probing using the command line. This changes network settings for Network Failure Detection from Link Status Only to Beacon Probing for the vSwitch, virtual machine network, and Service Console.

Symptoms:

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x

Resolution

In ESX 3.5 and 4.x

• To set vSwitch0 to Beacon Probing, run the command:
  
  vmware-vim-cmd hostsvc/net/vswitch_setpolicy --failurecriteria-check-beacon=true vSwitch0
  
  Or
  
  vmware-vim-cmd hostsvc/net/vswitch_setpolicy --failurecriteria-check-beacon 1 vSwitch0
  
  Note: Setting false or 0 sets the value back to Link Status Only.
  
  

In ESXi 4.x

• To set vSwitch0 to Beacon Probing, run the command:
  
  vim-cmd hostsvc/net/vswitch_setpolicy --failurecriteria-check-beacon 1 vSwitch0
  
  
• To set vSwitch0 to Link Status Only, run the command:
  
  vim-cmd hostsvc/net/vswitch_setpolicy --failurecriteria-check-beacon 0 vSwitch0
  
  

In ESXi 5.0, 5.1 and 5.5

• To set vSwitch0 to Beacon Probing, run the command:
  
  esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -f beacon -v vSwitch0
  
  
• To set vSwitch0 to Link Status Only, run the command:
  
  esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -f link -v vSwitch0
  

• To verify the setting changes, run the command:
  
  esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vSwitch0
  
  You see output similar to:
  
  Load Balancing: srcport
  Network Failure Detection: beacon <<<<<
  Notify Switches: true
  Failback: true
  Active Adapters: vmnic1
  Standby Adapters:
  Unused Adapters:

Additional Information

At least two adapters must be assigned to the NIC TEAM to successfully configure Beacon probing, otherwise you see an error similar to:

(vmodl.fault.InvalidArgument)
{
dynamicType = <unset>,
invalidProperty = <unset>,
msg = "A specified parameter was not correct."
}