Duplicate APIPA ips on all hosts with NSX hyperbus VMK50
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Duplicate APIPA ips on all hosts with NSX hyperbus VMK50

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Article ID: 387636

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Updated On: 05-05-2025

Products

VMware NSX-T Data Center VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

  • Migrated from NSX-V to NSX-T
  • All NSX Hosts have a new VMkernal adapter (vmk50)
  • APIPA IP 169.254.1.1 is assigned to all hosts

Environment

VMware NSX-T Data Center
VMware NSX

Cause

VMK50 is used for container communication. NSX creates and configures it automatically during the host preparation to provide network connectivity to virtual machines and containers running across transport nodes.

Resolution

This is expected behavior in a NSX -T environment

  • VMK50 is expected to have the same IP of 169.254.1.1 across all hosts.
  • It's an APIPA IP because it works as an internal interface and it doesn't send traffic outside of the ESXi host.
  • VMK50 is a special VMkernel interface that is created on ESXi hosts when NSX-T is used with container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes and Tanzu. If you are using NSX-T to provide networking for Containers, hyperbus and VMK50 are essential for those containers to connect to the NSX-T virtual networks and access network services.
  • When an ESXi host attempts to obtain an IP address for a VMkernel interface (like a TEP for NSX) via DHCP but no DHCP server responds, the host falls back to APIPA

Please note: The vmk50 adapter is a system-owned vmknic and it can't be changed.