Not enough ports on the virtual switch to complete the operation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This event occurs when there are no available ports on a virtual switch available to complete the current operation, for example connecting a virtual machine to a switch.

Impact

If the current operation was that a virtual machine is powered on, this event causes the power on operation to fail. If the current operation was that a TCP/IP interface is created (for example for VMotion or network storage) then the creation of the interface fails.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Resolution

For distributed switches, increase the number of ports designated on the host.

From the vSphere Center interface:

1. Open the vSphere Client and navigate to Hosts and Clusters.
2. Select the host and open the Configuration tab.
3. Select the Networking link from the Hardware list.
4. Select the vSphere Distributed Switch.
5. Highlight the distributed switch and click the Properties link.
6. Use the drop down menu to increase the maximum number of ports designated on this host.

You must restart the host before changes take effect.

For standard switches, increase the number of ports designated on the host.

1. Open the vSphere Client and navigate to Hosts and Clusters.
2. Select the host and open the Configuration tab.
3. Select Networking link from the Hardware list.
   
4. Select the vSphere Standard Switch.
5. Click the Properties link next to the affected standard switch.
6. In the Configuration column, select vSwitch from the list and click the Edit button.
7. In the General tab, use the drop down menu to increase the number of ports for the switch.
   

You must restart the host before the changes take effect.