VM /ETC

Managing and troubleshooting ESXi 4 can be a little alien when an administrator is used to the Service Console of ESX Classic. Specifically, troubleshooting remote connectivity to the ESX management interface after adding a second NIC involves local esxcfg-vswitch commands on ESX, but with ESXi the esxcfg commands are only available via the RCLI. Problem is you can’t use the RCLI if you lost remote management connectivity! Luckily, the local ESXi GUI lets you reconfigure your mistake and re establish remote connections.

Hit F2 on the ESXi Console and enter the System Configuration Menu

  Choose to Configure Management Network > Network Adapters

Hit the Space Bar to toggle the use of the specific physical NICs.

Hit Enter, then ESC, and then you will be prompted to restart the management network

Connectivity to ESXi 4 with the vSphere Client or RCLI should be restored. Now you can continue configuring the teaming and load balancing policies you were previously working on. Hopefully you won’t make the same mistake twice!

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