Verifying the vCenter Server Managed IP Address

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

There may be one or more of the following problems in the environment:

 

An ESXi host disconnects from its vCenter Server.

An ESXi host disconnects from vCenter Server when any functions of the host are utilized.

vCenter Server does not receive heartbeats from the ESXi host.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.x

Resolution

Note:

• For vCenter Server 7.0: When vCenter Server is multi-homed, verify that the internal IP is set as the management IP.
• When changing the managed IP Address from vCenter Server, there is no need to restart the ESXi management agents.
• Multi-homing is not supported on 6.x. An attempt to multi-home on vCenter 6.x may cause functionality issues with the vSphere Client.
• If an incorrect Managed IP Address has been set, vCenter Server will not receive heartbeats from the ESXi host; causing the host to go into disconnected state.

 Determine the managed IP address of the vCenter Server:

1. Use the vSphere Client to connect to the vCenter Server
2. Click on the vCenter Server's name
3. Click Configure > Advanced Settings
4. Under the "Name" column, click on the filter icon to the right of "Name"
5. In the search box, search for VirtualCenter.AutoManagedIPV4 and VirtualCenter.AutoManagedIPV6
6. Verify and record the listed value of these 2 entries.

 Determine the IP address and port that the ESXi/ESX host is using for heartbeat traffic:

1. SSH to the ESXi host
2. Check the vpxa.cfg file for the heartbeat traffic port by running the command:
    For ESXi 6.7:
   $ grep -i serverport /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg
   
   For ESXi 7.0U3+:
   $ configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config |grep -i server_port
   
3. Ensure that the port number matches the default heartbeat port of 902.
4. Check the vpxa.cfg file for the managed IP address by running the command:
    On ESXi 6.7:
   $ grep -i serverIp /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg

          On ESXi 7.0U3+:
     $ configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config |grep -i server_ip

      5. Ensure that the IP address matches the managed IP address found in Step 1.

Note: If the IP address is not the same as the one noted in Step 1, see vCenter Server IP address change causes ESX hosts to disconnect.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

After adding the host to vCenter Server, the host enters Not Responding mode for 90 seconds (the default). To workaround this issue, see vCenter Server IP address change causes ESX hosts to disconnect.