M8024 with ESXi cannot connect to network

Question

We have a m6220 on A1 and m8024 on A2. The ESXi servers can use A1 to access the network. However, they cannot use A2 (m8024) to access the network. Both switches are just default configuration.

Servers with other operating systems other than ESXi are able to use A2 to access the network just like they are able to use A1. Is anything special needed for ESXi to be able to use m8024 on A2? If we put a m6220 into A2 with default configuration, ESXi is able to use it just fine.

The firmware of the switches are updated to latest and the IOMINF also updated through CMC.

We are in the process to upgrade A1 to m8024 as well but want to be sure that things work when we swap out the m6220 to m8024 on A1 before we do that.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Hi,

You may want to try manually setting the ports to gigabit and see if it lets them connect properly. If you have a 1.0 revision midplane the 8024 may not work properly in fabric A. Also it is not recommended to mix switches in the same fabric. ESXi not working may also have to do with how the vswitches are configured.

Dusty Rah · Answer

Thanks for your feedback Josh! The midplane is 1.1. The transceivers are FTLX8571D3BCVIT1 Y3KJN.

The A2 switch with M8024 has another 10GE transciever LR which connects just fine with another switch. I have now tried connecting M8024 to m6220 (SFP+ module) using 10GE SR transcievers. The check on m8024 for the transceiver status shows no TX fault or LOS. The speed is set to 10000 and duplex full. But the leds don't light up on ether end and the link state is down.

Port Temp Voltage Current Power Power TX LOS
[C] [Volt] [mA] [dBm] [dBm] Fault
-------- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ----- ---
Te1/1/4 35.0 3.294 5.2 -4.400 -4.298 No No

I have tried different cables as well as different transceivers. I am stumped that the connection to both SFP+ module as well as XFP module does not seem to work. Is there anything else I could try?

Dusty Rah · Answer

Both show the same as far as advertise goes.

m8024ab#show interfaces advertise Te1/1/4

Port: Te1/1/4
Type: 10G - Level
Link State: Down
Auto Negotiation: Disabled

console#show interfaces advertise Te1/1/2

Port: Te1/1/2
Type: 10G - Level
Link State: Down
Auto Negotiation: Disabled

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

It might be because you are mixing two switches in the same fabric.

Dusty Rah · Answer

Thanks for your feedback Josh! Yes, all cards in the chassis are at 1G because of the mix. We plan to swap out the second m6220 with a m8024.

The reason the connections were not working is because the transceivers were not Dell. They were Intel transceivers. As soon as we used the appropriate Dell SFP+ transceiver, it connected off to the XFP port fine. So now we are all set to swap out the m6220 on A1 into a m8024.

Once again, thanks for your feedback and I suppose the take away for me from this is that not all transceivers are the same even though the specs may look the same.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Glad you got it working

Networking General

M8024 with ESXi cannot connect to network

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