Post RASR Reset of VxRail 4.7 Host Re-Add Host into Additional Virtual Distributed Switch (vDS)

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As I’m sure many of you are aware VxRail Manager is only responsible for the virtual distributed switch it creates at install.  What about any additional vDS that you create?  You are 100% responsible for their upgrade and management.  It doesn’t sound so bad right?  How often do we actually interact with a vDS?  Here is a gotcha I discovered helping others troubleshoot network issues following a RASR reset of a host that gets re-added into the existing cluster.

Scenario

You are having issues with a VxRail host and support determines a RASR (factory) reset is the only solution.  Following the RASR reset you will add the host back into the cluster and hopefully that resolves your issues.  Yes, it does! Awesome!  The host & cluster even pass their health checks.  Later on you choose to vMotion a VM manually and it is unable to vMotion to the recently re-added host.

Cause:

When the host was RASR reset the additional virtual distributed switch that you manually added the host to was put back.  The vMotion failed because it couldn’t see the network on the target (re-added) host.

Solution:

Go into the vDS and re-add the missing host.

How to re-add a host to an existing vDS

Machine generated alternative text:
Q Non-Prod FE Distributed Switch 
Monitor Configure 
permissions 
Summary 
Manufacturer: VMware, Inc. 
ACTIONS v 
ports 
Hosts 
Description 
VMS 
Networks 
Version: 
Switch Details 
Notes 
FE Distributed Switch 
Edit 
Tags 
Assigned Tag 
Assign.. 
6.5_o 
Upgrades available 
Category 
Features 
Custom Attributes 
Attribute 
Edit„ 
Value 
No items to display 
No items to display

Go to the vDS you wish to add the host back into

Machine generated alternative text:
Q Actions - Non-prod FE Distributed Switch 
Distributed Port Group 
Add and Manage Hosts... 
Edit Notes... 
upgrade 
Settings 
Move To . 
Tags & Custom Attributes 
Add Permission._ 
Alarms 
X Delete

Select Add and Manage Hosts

Machine generated alternative text:
1 Select task 
2 Select hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Select task 
Select a task to perform on this distributed switch. 
• Add hosts 
Add new hosts to this distributed switch. 
O 
Manage host networking 
Manage networking of hosts attached to this distributed switch. 
O 
Remove hosts 
Remove hosts from this distributed switch. 
CANCEL 
BACK 
NEXT

Add Host

Machine generated alternative text:
1 task 
2 Select hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Select hosts 
Select hosts to add to this distributed switch. 
+ New hostsm X Remove 
Host Status 
CANCEL 
No items to display 
BACK 
NEXT

Select New hosts

Machine generated alternative text:
1 task 
2 Select hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Select hosts 
Select hosts to add to this distributed switch. 
+ New hostsm X Remove 
t] (New) dalnprvxr08freemancocom 
Host Status 
Connected 
CANCEL 
BACK 
I items 
NEXT

Select the host you want to re-add

Machine generated alternative text:
1 Select task 
2 Select hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Manage physical adapters 
Add or remove physical network adapters to this distributed switch. 
Assign uplink X unassign adapter O View settings 
Host/Physical Network Adapters 
dalnprvxr08_treemancccom 
On this switch 
vmnic2 (Assigned) 
vmnic3 (Assigned) 
On other switches/unclaimed 
vmnicO 
vmnicl 
vmnic4 
vmnic5 
vmnic6 
vmnic7 
In use by Switch 
Non-Prui BE Distrij_ 
Non-Prui BE Distrij_ 
vSwitchiDRACvusb 
Uplink 
Uplink 1 
Uplink 2 
CANCEL 
Uplink Port Group 
Dist_ 
Dist_ 
BACK 
NEXT

Assign the uplink to the vmnic and have it match what you previous had I your environment.

Machine generated alternative text:
1 Select task 
2 hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Migrate VM netvwrking 
Select virtual machines or network adapters to migrate to the distributed switch. 
Migrate virtual machine networking 
Assign port group Reset changes 
Host/Virtual Machine/Network Adapter 
No records to display 
O View settings 
NIC count 
Source Port Group 
CANCEL 
Destination Port Group 
BACK 
NEXT
Machine generated alternative text:
1 Select task 
2 hosts 
3 Manage physical adapters 
4 Manage VMkernel adapt... 
5 Migrate VM networking 
6 Ready to complete 
Ready to complete 
Review your settings selections before finishing the wizard 
Number of managed hosts 
Hosts to add 
Number of network adapters for update 
Physical adapters 
CANCEL 
BACK 
FINISH

Summary:
As you can see it is a pretty easy process.  The challenge is catching it during the host being re-added into the cluster to avoid the problem all together.  As always, I hope y’all found this helpful.

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