Adding an additional NIC in vsphere client

[jordendrew]

I am trying to add an additional physical NIC. Everything tells me that it's being detected. I'm able to see it when listing detected devices, but when I try to add it, it's not showing up.

[Devi94]

Are you trying to add physical nic to virtual switch ? Can you share screenshot of error message ?

[jordendrew]

Yes. I created a new Vswitch so it can connect to a second network that we have. When I goto the add adapter wizard, all I see is vmnic0. I should be also seeing vmnic1. There is not error per-say.

[a_p_]

Are you using the Embedded Host Client (i.e. the Web Client)?

In case you are using an older version, please consider updating it (e.g. from ESXi Embedded Host Client). There have been a couple of issues which are solved with this version.

André

[Devi94]

Can you ssh to esxi and run command ?

esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=vmnic1 --vswitch-name=vSwitch1

Assuming your switch name as vSwitch1, if not please modify correct vmnic name and switch name.

[jordendrew]

I got the response, Not a valid pnic: vmnic1

[jordendrew]

Also just to verify the nic is being detected....

[xxx@xxxx:~] lspci | grep -i net

0000:07:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]

0000:08:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]

[Devi94]

Was there any change in host hardware recently ? Like new PCI card addition..

[jordendrew]

No. I just never used the nic before. Just plugged in a network cable and went to add the vswitch and realized the nic was not showing up.

[Devi94]

Please share screenshot of MAC addresses from your hardware as well as from esxi.

[jordendrew]

[xxx@xxxx-2:~] grep "/net/pnic" /etc/vmware/esx.conf

/net/pnic/child[0000]/name = "vmnic0"

/net/pnic/child[0000]/virtualMac = "00:50:56:51:df:e0"

/net/pnic/child[0000]/mac = "00:8c:fa:f1:df:e0"

/net/pnic/child[0001]/name = "vmnic1"

/net/pnic/child[0001]/virtualMac = "00:50:56:51:df:e1"

/net/pnic/child[0001]/mac = "00:8c:fa:f1:df:e1"

[Devi94]

Please share Mac details for all your NICs, and hardware  MAC as well.

[jordendrew]

Please share Mac details for all your NICs, and hardware  MAC as well.

Not sure exactly what else is needed from what I posted. Got a command I can run?

[Devi94]

from Esxi console view under networking -> Physical adapters, please share screenshot of it.

From hardware console you can see all the available nic cards and associated mac address. ( not sure about your vendor)

[jordendrew]

Here are two screenshots.

[Devi94]

Your both screenshots are from ESXi. Your esxi itself not seeing vmnic1.  That's why you are not able to add vmnic1. either it is not plugged properly, or having some compatibility issue. what is your hardware ?

[jordendrew]

The nic is an onboard nic in a Lenovo server. I used the Lenovo ESXi image when installing the the server. It's weird that it would be detected in the command i ran earlier.

[Devi94]

can you please provide screenshot of network interfaces from lenovo imm GUI?

[jordendrew]

Here ya go. Couldn't find any other info about the network adapters.

[Devi94]

Please share output from below commands.

lspci -v | grep -A1 -i ethernet

vmkload_mod -l |grep drivername

Also share your ESXi build details and Lenovo hardware model.

[jordendrew]

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:~] lspci -v | grep -A1 -i ethernet

0000:07:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]

         Class 0200: 8086:1533

--

0000:08:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]

         Class 0200: 8086:1533

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:~] vmkload_mod -l |grep drivername

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:~]

VMware ESXi 6.0.0 build-2494585

Product Name	RD450
Product Part Number	00000000000001
Product Version	70DC002GUX

[Devi94]

so you do not have a driver installed. can you please check in vmware compatibility guide and install the correct drivers. post driver installation make sure esxcfg-nics -l command listing vmnic1. Then try to add nic to your vswitch.

[jordendrew]

I loaded the drivers, but still not showing vmnic1.

[Devi94]

Can you run vmkload_mod -l | grep drivername and provide result ?

[jordendrew]

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep drivername

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:~]

Nothing comes up. I find this especially weird since the other nic works and they're both the same. Should be using the same driver.

[Devi94]

did you keep host in maintenance and installed drivers ?

did you reboot  host post installation ?

[jordendrew]

I did not have it in maintenance mode but did reboot it.

[Devi94]

Keep the host in maintenance.

run the offline bundle installation( esxcli software vib install -d offlinebundle.zip )

Reboot the host.

after that login and check if drivers are installed and post results here.

[jordendrew]

FIXED IT!!! :-D I ran in it in maintenance mode.

[root@ncsi-esxi-2:/vmfs/volumes/5a60bb3c-221015a0-c193-008cfaf1dfe0/DD_Intel_22.9_CD_AnyOS/VMware/ESX/6.0/i40en] esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/5a

60bb3c-221015a0-c193-008cfaf1dfe0/DD_Intel_22.9_CD_AnyOS/VMware/ESX/6.0/i40en/i4

0en-1.5.6-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847.x86_64.vib

Installation Result

   Message: Host is not changed.

   Reboot Required: false

   VIBs Installed:

   VIBs Removed:

   VIBs Skipped: INT_bootbank_i40en_1.5.6-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847

So I was a little confused as to why I was still not seeing the driver. So I did a google search on listing drivers for nics. Came across this: VMware Knowledge Base

I ran vmchdev -l | grep vmnic1 which gave me this: 0000:08:00.0 8086:1533 17aa:1100 passthru vmnic1

Ran it for vmnic0 which gave me this: 0000:07:00.0 8086:1533 17aa:1100 vmkernel vmnic0

I then looked up how to change the nic from passthrough to vmkernel which led me to this: VMware Knowledge Base

Edited the esx.conf and rebooted and now I have both nic's up and running and added to the vswitch I want it on.

I appreciate all your help with this. Even though your fix didn't work, it still led me in the right direction.

[Stan01]

Make sure vmnic1 is not already associated with a Standard switch. Try the command below:

esxcli network vswitch standard list

[jordendrew]

vmnic1 is not associated with any other switch.