vCenter Server logging may show warnings detecting an IP conflict between ESXi hosts.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter Server logging, and 3rd party syslog data (collecting vpxd.log) may flag the following warning as potential IP conflicts for one or more ESXi hosts:

Path: /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd-[nnn].log

<timestamp> error vpxd[12345] [Originator@6876 sub=InvtId opID=########-######-auto-#####-h5:########-##-######] [VpxdInvtId::CheckIp] detected IP [:192.168.##.##] conflict between host [host-a.example.domain] (moId:host-##) nic:NetworkInfo.vnic[1].ipAddress and entity [host-b.example.domain] (moId:host-##)

Note: The above log is an example, and values such as operation IDs, IP addresses, hostnames, and moId's will vary

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

Resolution

This warning may be a false positive. vCenter Server will run comparisons across all entities within the inventory and does not factor that private IP addresses such as 10.x.x.x, or 192.168.x.x could be reused in different clusters. Those networks may operate in a completely different location and pose zero risk of being on the same L2 network. A more common example is Remote Offices and Branch Offices (ROBO) environments.