ESXi 5 on a stick

Mikdilly

Running esxi on a usb stick, can't stay connected while in vsphere client, at the server it shows both vmnic's connected, have tried setting network mgt to dhcp and static ip, can test the network and usually after configuring for dhcp or static i can ping the gateway, once i can ping the gateway i will get connectivity in vsphere client for about a minute and then get an error about the server closing the connection. Can then no longer ping the ip address of the server. Don't have a network problem as i have another esx server installed to a sata drive that i can connect to in vsphere client and stay connected on same network. Any issues when running esxi server from usb?

Essendon

Have you checked network settings (timeout for example) on your modem/router? Maybe there is a duplicate IP address issue in your network? Your host on the VMware HCL? Apart from this, you should have no issues with ESXi on a stick.

Paperlantern

I have zero issues running from a USB, my host has been up for months and it is always available when I connect, and stays connected as long as I leave vSphere open. Technically, once the host boots up, it runs from a RAM disk anyway. You need to figure out where the disconnect is happening. Perhaps boot the host into a *nix live cd and do some network diagnostics, some ping tests etc, see if there might be an issue with the network hardware on the host.

Once you lose connectivity is the host still responding at the console? Or is it locked up?

What kind of hardware are we talking about for the host here? Real server hardware? Old PC type stuff?

Try different network port on your router/switch? Diff patch cable?

Mikdilly

Seems like ESX doesn't like the Realtek PCIe nic running on the motherboard, de-selected it in Mgt Network on server and now can connect thru vsphere client and stay connected. Motherboard manual says it is a Realtek RTL8111E / RTL8111F, are they not compatible with ESX 5?

QHalo

Check the VMware HCL.

VMware Compatibility Guide: System Search

jibbajabba

You say both vmnics are configured. Do you mean you got two uplinks and have both configured in active / active for the vswitch with the management network configured ?

If that is the case then you have to make sure you are using the right failover / loadbalancing policy. For instance, if you have the default "Route based on the originating port ID" configured but your two uplinks are configured on a switch with port channels, you'd have exactly that issue - in order to test this either remove one vmnic or pull one cable. If you do have port channels you need to configure the vswitch (AND management portgroup as this one does not inherit the setting) to be IP Hash ...

Edit: missed your post that you got issues with the Realtec - have you connected another nic instead which works ? If not then you might have fixed it for another reason, as I just mentioned