After building the server, I connected my laptop to Ethernet port marked as 1 and attempted to ping the IP. This failed. I tried the other 3 ports, same result. Server has 4 NICS so I connected them all to a gig switch along with my laptop, but still could not access the management IP.
Big G search engine wasn't my friend this time - I didn't find anything that helped.
The server is a Lenovo ST550. There are 2 LOM ports, a management port and a dual port NIC paddle board.
Here are the steps I took to isolate and resolve.
I enabled the ESXi shell at the console (under troubleshooting).
I entered the console (ALT+F1) and Logged in.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network nic list
I see 5 NICs, 4 Ethernet ports and one vusb0. The vusb0 is the embedded IBM XClarity Controller/IMM/BMC device.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network ip interface ipv4 get
Shows me that vmk0 has the IP I set.
[root@localhost:~] esxi network switch standard list
Shows the vSwitch only has the vusb0 NIC. Bingo, there's the problem.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u vmnic0 -v vSwitch0
I add a LOM NIC to the vswitch in the event there is a driver or port issue.
[root@localhost:~] esxi network switch standard list
lists vSwitch0 with uplinks as vusb0, vmnic0
I still cannot ping the IP.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u vmnic2 -v vSwitch0
I add a second port to use the paddle board NIC.
[root@localhost:~] esxi network switch standard list
lists vSwitch0 with uplinks as vusb0, vmnic2, vmnic0.
I still cannot ping the IP.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vSwitch0
I see vusb0 is listed as the active adapter and vmnic0 & vmnic2 are listed as standby.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network vswitch standard uplink remove -u vusb0 -v vSwitch0
I remove the vusb0 NIC.
[root@localhost:~] esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover get -v vSwitch0
Now the Active Adapter is listed as vmnic0. After a few seconds, I can ping the interface and access the web UI.
If I did have a question, it would be, Why? Why the USB port used by the BMC?