ESXi host loses network configurations and becomes unresponsive

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The issue of ESXi failing after renaming a portgroup in vSphere Web Client is resolved in vCenter Server 6.5.

Symptoms:

• An ESXi host loses all network configurations and becomes unresponsive after renaming a portgroup in vSphere Web Client.
• Network configuration does not display in vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client.
• An ILO or DRAC screen is unresponsive.
• An ESXi host reboot fails. You see the error:
  
  failed to open dvsdev device /vmfs/devices/char/vmkdriver/dvsdev
  Error performing operation: Error interacting with configuration file /etc/vmware/esx.conf: esx.conf parser --393,62): forward slash expected

Cause

This issue occurs when quotes ( " ) are used in the port group name. The quote character is not supported when naming a port group in vSphere Web Client.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server 6.5.

Workaround:

Rename port groups using vSphere Client or rename a port group in vSphere Web Client without quote characters.