VM's network adapter fails to connect post power on

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After registering VM via command line as per command - vim-cmd solo/register /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<vmfolder>/<vmname>.vmx, the network adapter does not come up as 'Connected'
• vmware.log shows entries as below:
  

  In(05) vcpu-0 - VMXNET3 user: failed to connect 'Ethernet0' to DV Port '##'.
  In(05) vcpu-0 - Msg_Post: Warning
  In(05) vcpu-0 - [msg.device.startdisconnected] Virtual device 'Ethernet0' will start disconnected.

• /var/run/log/hostd.log shows entries as below:
  

  In(166) Hostd[2102353]: [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc opID=########## sid=##user=vpxuser:<no user>] Unable to look up dvs ################## portgroup dvportgroup-##
  Er(163) Hostd[2102353]: [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc opID=########## sid=##user=vpxuser:<no user>] dvs ################## port ## can't be found.

• 'Connect at Power on' is checked in 'Edit settings' pane on the VM
• Manually connecting the adapter from 'Edit settings' pane restores connectivity
• Port group being used is configured with "Static port binding"

Environment

VMware vSphere 8.x

Cause

Unregister/Register operations from the host directly via command line fail to update the vCenter server about the port ID usage.

On the other hand, if the same operations are performed via GUI, this ensures that the vCenter server manages the port ID assignment properly.

This is an expected behavior as ESXi does not have the capability to assign port IDs from a VDS without vCenter's intervention.

Resolution

Perform Unregister and Register VM operations from the vCenter GUI. Reference article: How to register a VM