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Service Console Networking Stops Working When Using the vmxnet_console Network Driver and Upgrading ESX Server

Details

I used the vmnet_console network driver to upgrade a host from ESX Server 2.x to ESX Server 3.0 or 3.0.1. Now networking on the service console does not work. How can I fix this?

Solution

Upgrading vmxnet_console configurations from ESX Server 2.x to 3.0 or 3.0.1 is not supported.
 
The vmxnet_console driver is typically used to share a particular physical network adapter between virtual machines and the service console. The driver is activated in ESX Server 2.x by using the CLI command: 
insmod vmxnet_console devName=
 
For example:
insmod vmxnet_console devName="vmnic1;vmnet_0"

The devName parameter is a comma-separated list of names of VMkernel network adapters and virtual networks.

If you configured your ESX Server 2.x system to use the vmxnet_console network driver, you might lose your network configuration after upgrading to ESX Server 3.0.
 
To restore networking
  1. Log in to the service console and bring up networking manually.
  2. Connect to the system using the Virtual Infrastructure Client and reconfigure networking as needed.
Note: This issue is fixed in ESX Server 3.0.2.

Keywords

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Actions
  • KB Article: 2202
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 2.0.x
    VMware ESX 2.1.x
    VMware ESX 2.5.x
    VMware ESX 3.0.x