ESXi Management Network Isolation Caused by Dell iDRAC Service Module

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

An ESXi host suddenly loses management network connectivity and becomes isolated. The primary management VMkernel adapter loses its static IP assignment and acquires an APIPA address (###.###.###.###). No physical link state drops or hardware layer issues are observed.

Log analysis reveals a localized IP change executed by a system process.

In vmkernel.log, the IP is changed via esxcli: Config:

<REDACTED_PID>: "esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i vmk0 -I ###.###.###.### -t static ..."

In hostd.log, the PID is traced to the dcui user:

info hostd[<REDACTED_PID>] [Originator@#### sub=Default] Accepted password for user dcui from 127.0.0.1

In the dcism-netmon logs, the module is observed initiating the network change:

[INFO] dcism-netmon: Executing network configuration change to ###.###.###.###

Cause

Dell iDRAC Service Module (dcism) executes an esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set command via the dcui user account, actively overwriting the primary management interface's IP configuration.

 

Resolution

1. Access the Dell iDRAC Virtual Console.
2. Log in to the DCUI.
3. Reconfigure the original static IPv4 address, subnet mask, and default gateway for the management network.
4. Engage the hardware vendor to investigate the dcism module behavior and apply vendor-recommended updates or configuration changes to prevent recurrence.

Additional Information

To verify this specific failure state, ensure correlation of the IP change event PID in vmkernel.log to the dcui user in hostd.log and the corresponding execution in the dcism-netmon logs.