Virtual Appliances such as NSX, vCenter, VCF Operations Fleet Management, etc. on non-NSX managed port groups lose network connectivity randomly

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• Issue affects multiple virtual machines, not just one or not just one type
• The VMs appear to lose all networking randomly
  • Cannot access the VMs via SSH
  • Console access shows the VMs are unable to ping their default gateway
• Multiple temporary resolutions exist
  • vMotion to a new host
  • Reboot the VM
  • Power down/power up the VM
    • Disconnect/reconnect the vnic

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESX
• VMware NSX

Cause

Multiple causes exist for this symptom. Full evaluation requires in depth analysis of proper vlan tagging, trunk configurations, and network connectivity between the ESXi hosts and the physical infrastructure.

Resolution

See the following KB articles for various troubleshooting / investigation paths:

• Troubleshooting virtual machine network connection issues
• Troubleshooting network connection failures
• Troubleshooting when a virtual machine loses network connection after vMotion

Additional Information

NSX-MGR-CONNECT