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  • 1.  Cannot get to Host IPMI from within a VM

    Posted Oct 04, 2020 06:37 AM

    It is either something very deep and complicated or too simple to notice.

    The setup right now is:

    ==================

    Managed Switch

    Port 1 - Trunk to Gateway - a pfSense box

    Port 2 - Trunk to Host - ESXi 7 ----> dvSwitch

    Port 3 - Tagged (VLAN5) to IPMI of Host - a separate interface on a Supermicro motherboard

    Port 4 - Tagged (VLAN5) to Laptop

    vDSwitch

    PortGroup 1 - Management - VLAN5

    PortGroup 2 - System - VLAN5

    VMs

    VM1 - FreeNAS - PortGroup 1

    VM2 - Windows 10 - PortGroup 2

    ==================

    --- IPMI and Laptop are setup to NOT tag their frames with Vlan-IDs - the frames get tagged at the ingress at Port 3 and Port 4, respectively

    --- VM1, VM2, pfSense, Laptop - can ping each other just fine

    --- pfSense, Laptop are able to ping IPMI

    --- VM1, VM2 cannot ping IPMI

    For some reason either the pings from the VMs do not get to IPMI or the replies get dropped.

    It might have something to do with this:

    A while back I needed to free up Port 3, so I combined the IPMI to the "Trunk to Host" traffic on the same cable (by setting up IMPI as "shared", and to send its frames as tagged VLAN5)

    I do not remember if VM access to IPMI worked before this change, but it did not work during the change and now too - after I put things back the way they were.

    Cannot figure it out. Any ideas?

    Thanks!



  • 2.  RE: Cannot get to Host IPMI from within a VM

    Posted Oct 08, 2020 12:03 AM

    For sanity check I switched the Laptop and IPMI cables on the switch - it didn't make any difference. So the problem is not with the switch configuration.

    Also, I rebooted ESXi in order to purge any ARP data. Didn't help either.



  • 3.  RE: Cannot get to Host IPMI from within a VM

    Posted Oct 08, 2020 07:57 AM

    Hey petreza​,

    So if you are tagging an specific VLAN on the switch port when you will need to usa that tagging on your IPMI side. From the VMware perspective, all traffic going from the dvSwitch is going to the physical switch with VLAN 5 tagged.

    Could you please try to do that change?



  • 4.  RE: Cannot get to Host IPMI from within a VM

    Posted Oct 08, 2020 08:46 PM

    Thanks for trying to help, Lalegre!

    If I configure IPMI (using a browser on my Laptop) to send frames with VLAN5 tag applied, I lock myself out of IPMI.

    Then I have to configure IPMI's port on the switch to Trunk (all vlans) and then I can connect again from the Laptop.

    This change makes no difference for VM1, VM2.

    Here is a diagram of my setup: