Physical NICs set to Auto-negotiate cannot be changed to Fixed by using Host Profiles if the same speed and duplex settings are present in VMware vCenter Server 4.x/5.x

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Physical NICs set to Auto-negotiate cannot be changed to Fixed by using Host Profiles if the same speed and duplex settings are present.
• If you follow these steps and the NIC is not updated, you have encountered this issue:
  
1. ESX/ESXi host has one or more physical NICs set to Auto-negotiate. Speed and Duplex are set automatically.
2. Host Profile in use is set to configure the physical NIC in question to Fixed.
   
   Networking Configuration > Physical NIC configuration > Physical NIC configuration (specific vmnic) > Physical Network Adapter = Fixed physical NIC configuration, same speed and duplex as the ESX/ESXi host in step 1.
   
   
3. Host Profile in use is set to configure the physical NIC in question to the same speed and duplex it is at currently.
4. Host Profile is applied to ESX(i) host with physical NIC/s set to Auto-negotiate.
5. Host Profile shows as compliant on ESX(i) host.
6. ESX/ESXi host physical NICs remain set to Auto-negotiate after application of Host Profile with Fixed setting.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x

Cause

In VMware vCenter Server 5.x and earlier, Host Profiles check compliance against the speed and duplex of a physical NIC. If the speed and duplex of a physical NIC match that of the Host Profile, the ESX/ESXi host shows as compliant. The ESX/ESXi host shows as compliant even if the physical NIC is set to Auto-negotiate and the Host Profile is set to Fixed.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in:

• VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 2, available at the VMware Download Center. For more information, see the VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 2 Release Notes.
  
  
• VMware ESXi 5.1 Update 1, available at the VMware Download Center. For more information, see the VMware ESXi 5.1 Update 1 Release Note.

To workaround this issue, manually configure any physical NICs on ESX(i) to a Fixed setting.

For more information on manually configuring speed and duplex settings for network adapters on ESX/ESXi, see Configuring the speed and duplex of an ESX / ESXi host network adapter (1004089).

Additional Information

To be alerted when this document is updated, click the Subscribe to Article link in the Actions box

Configuring the speed and duplex of an ESXi or ESX host network adapter
VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch ESXi500-201212201-UG: Updates VMware ESXi 5.0 esx-base vib
VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch ESXi510-201304201-UG: Updates VMware ESXi 5.1 esx-base vib