W2012r2 VM fresh install networking issue

[mummonth]

Hello, gents.

I am out of ideas.

I have very weird issue with networking on freshly installed w2012r2 VM.

And I've spent several hours trying to determine on which level there is  an issue and I am still have no full clarity.

The issue is simple - freshly installed VM cannot see network and ping gateway.

I've tried it on 3 ESXi 5.5 (1474528) hosts and on those hosts there are other VMs w2012r2 and w2k8r2 are running and working fine with network.

On this VM it just show Unindetified network and that's it.

I've tried different things: change portgroups, re-create vNICs (both as E1000E and VMXNET3), install/uninstall VMware Tools, upgrade vHW, migrate to other hosts, reinstall from different ISO images, checked networking configuration on host level, tried different IPs in guest OS, disable IPv6, set netowork speed and duplex, recreate routes in Windows and other stuff ...

VM able to ping it's own IP but nothing on the network.

Something i am missing ... but nothing comes to my mind.

What am I missing? Any ideas?

Thank you in advance!

[Davoud Teimouri]

Try to change the machine's IP address.

[mummonth]

I've tried to use different IP, from w2012r2 VM in the same cluster, which works fine with networking and it didn't solve the issue.

[vXav]

Take 2 VMs that are on the same host / same port group. One works (A), the one that doesn't (B).

- On A :

• What's its network configuration? (Get-NetIPConfiguration)
• Does it work with the network configuration of B

- On B :

• What's its network configuration? (Get-NetIPConfiguration)
• Does it work with the network configuration of A

(Have you checked there's no duplicate of this IP somewhere on your network?)

[mummonth]

Network config is identical, except for IP.

172.20.1.43 and 172.20.1.216.

mask 255.255.255.0

GW 172.20.1.1

Duplicate network would show message in ipconfig /all and it shows (Preferred).

Tried to use working VM IP on not working VM with no luck, so it's not IP related.

[vXav]

Hi,

Windows firewall?

[mummonth]

Disabled Windows Firewall and still no result.

[mummonth]

Disabled Windows Firewall and still no result.

[Alim786]

Can you provide a screenshot of where it displays "unidentified network".

Did you deploy the VM from a template or manually ?

[mummonth]

It's French Windows Server, so it looks like this:

VMs were deployed manually from 2 different ISOs French and English, same issues.

[dmeyner22]

Can you verify you are on the correct subnet?  Maybe with a SS of both the working server and the one that is not working.

[mummonth]

Validated networking settings several times, and re-deployed new VMs, setting up new parameters again and again, same issue.

[vXav]

Have you tried to tweak the network location awareness to private?

[mummonth]

Tried this:

http://www.1337admin.org/windows-server/windows-server-2012-r2/change-network-location-using-powershell-in-windows/

Switched to private, didn't change anything.

[vXav]

How did you create the other servers (that work) in the first place by the way?

Can you ping 172.20.1.43 to/from 172.20.1.216?

Is there some kind of radius mac based authentication on your network or any other "third party" security policy?

I'm running out of ideas but I'm thinking more and more that it's something silly, always is.

[mummonth]

It's not me who installed them, they were deployed before. But when I though it was ESXi host related issue and I need to plan updating ESXi, I saw these.

No, from new VMs I am able to ping only their own IPs, nothing else.

No, as far as I am aware.

Opened case with VMware support, but I am afraid they will send me to MS support.

[Alim786]

This is certainly a strange one and I am sure we have missed something. If you have logged a ticket with VMware, then they will at least confirm it is not a VMware issue. However, I would like to request you to review troubleshooting steps with the help of the article below :-

Troubleshooting virtual machine network connection issues (1003893) | VMware KB‌

[vXav]

If it is on the same port group as another one that works in the same subnet then it's very unlikely to be hypervisor related.

Maybe you can attach the VMX of a vm that works and the one that doesn't to see if we find something but again I think your ESXi/VM is fine.

One last thing to try would be to try using the mac address of a VM that works.

[mummonth]

Same port group as others.

My team has found weird workaround, but I still have no valid explanation why it works ...

VM start working normally if you add second vNIC adapter with different IP.

That's insane ... I hope VMware support can add some light ...

[mars0077]

How are you getting your network to the ESX hosts. Access ports, trunks, etc. Are you using vSwitch tagging?

Try this; create a private virtual switch and portgroup with no uplinks and attach this VM and another using the same subnet and having them ping each other. This could rule out some type of ARP issue on the switching gear. It would also rule out the vSwitch where the other VMs are.

Also, just want to confirm that we are not doing anything with VDS right?

[Josef Nedved]

If you have access to the physical switch (or find a colleague who can help you access it)

1. Ping from the VM which has the issue (continuous ping with "ping -t").

2. Check the VM MAC address

Login to the network switch to witch the host is connected and check the mac address table - look for the VM MAC address.

If you see the MAC address - note in which VLAN is the MAC showing up.

Then you know the VM is on the network, it should bring you closer to resolution.

I suspect you have VLAN membership or tagging issue or port security issue or configuration (make sure you're using correct uplink) issue.

[mummonth]

Thanks everybody, VMware support has assisted to find the issue.

One of the vmnics is not working, we were able to create separate portgroup and add only one vmnic to it.

With one vmnicX network communication works with another vmnicY it fails.

Thanks everybody for your prompt responses and willingness to assist, this wasn't an easy one!