vCenter Server Management IP Unreachable Following VCHA Manual Failover Execution
Article ID: 445280
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
- During a manual VMware vCenter Server High Availability (VCHA) failover execution, the passive node assumes the active role, but the vCenter management IP address becomes completely unreachable over the network.
- Packet captures executed on the ESXi host uplink associated with the passive VM demonstrate that outbound ARP requests for the default gateway are successfully transmitted, but no inbound ARP responses are received from the upstream physical switch infrastructure.
Environment
VMware vCenter Server
Cause
An asymmetrical network path failure caused by a degraded or offline upstream physical switch (e.g., Core or Top-of-Rack switch) associated with the ESXi host running the passive vCenter Server node. This physical layer outage prevents upstream ARP replies from reaching the specific ESXi host when the passive node attempts to claim and announce the management IP address.
Resolution
Remediate the physical layer failure by restoring the down upstream switch infrastructure to an active, operational status.
Validate that the link aggregation (e.g., vPC) and associated VLAN trunking match consistently across the upstream switches and the target ports connected to the ESXi host.
To bypass the outage temporarily, disable the vCenter VCHA DRS anti-affinity rules and migrate the passive VM to an ESXi host with a known healthy upstream network path.
Once upstream network symmetry is verified and fully repaired, re-enable the vCenter VCHA VM anti-affinity rules to distribute the Active, Passive, and Witness nodes back to separate physical ESXi hosts to maintain high-availability resilience.
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