Hi all
I have just deployed a VMWare vSRX appliance (ESXi 6.5U1 and ESXi 6.5U2), and my problem is that I can't get a functional fxp0 interface to ssh to the thing and configure it.
Things I've checked:
Virtual network adaptor 1 is in the correct portgroup on ESXi.
The MAC of virtual network adaptor 1 matches the mac you get from a "show interface fxp0"
Another VM in the same portgroup can be reached OK.
Promiscuous mode is enabled on the vSwitch.
So I'm reasonably sure that the network config within the environment is OK. This has been added to an existing ESXi setup with plenty of networks and uplinks; nothing else has ever given us a problem like this.
I also tried installing on another ESXi cluster just in case there was a specific issue with the hypervisor in 6.5U2 - I see exactly the same problem.
Troubleshooting this, I (logically) connected fxp0 to a spare NIC on another test VM on the same ESXi host, and captured packets on the test VM, and then try and ping the test VM. I see the ARP request going out from the vSRX, and the test VM responding with its MAC address. This repeats. On the vSRX, the mac address *does not* appear in show arp.
However, if I place the vSRX fxp0 into a "busy" network subnet, "show arp" *does* show learned mac addresses that the vSRX has seen (I'm guessing it populates the ARP table with gratuitous ARP replies that come past on the network).
The combination of the above two suggest that this isn't a specific tx or rx problem, it can clearly do both - but not function as expected.
I have tried vSRX versions 18.2R1.9 and 15.1X49-D140, and have tried this on ESXi clusters with distributed switches as well as standard vSwitches.
Here's how I got to where I am:
1) Installed the vSRX appliance (deploy the OVF with all defaults).
2) Connect my virtual network adaptors to the correct networks (have tried various combinations of them being connected and disconnected) - the test network being a single port group permitting all VLANs, with the vSRX fxp0 at one end and the test VM's second NIC at the other; basically as close as I can get to a bit of cat5 between a physical SRX and a laptop for testing.
3) Add config:
set system host-name vsrx1
set system root-authentication plain-text-password
set interfaces fxp0 unit 0 family inet address 192.91.199.1/24
4) Try and ping 192.91.199.2 (this is the test VM mentioned)
5) Observe this traffic on 192.91.199.2:
15:17:14.483826 00:50:56:ab:66:d1 > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 60: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Request who-has 192.91.199.2 tell 192.91.199.1, length 46
15:17:14.483844 00:50:56:93:d8:32 > 00:50:56:ab:66:d1, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Reply 192.91.199.2 is-at 00:50:56:93:d8:32, length 28
15:17:15.381605 00:50:56:ab:66:d1 > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 60: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Request who-has 192.91.199.2 tell 192.91.199.1, length 46
15:17:15.381636 00:50:56:93:d8:32 > 00:50:56:ab:66:d1, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Reply 192.91.199.2 is-at 00:50:56:93:d8:32, length 28
15:17:16.081673 00:50:56:ab:66:d1 > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 60: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Request who-has 192.91.199.2 tell 192.91.199.1, length 46
15:17:16.081693 00:50:56:93:d8:32 > 00:50:56:ab:66:d1, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Reply 192.91.199.2 is-at 00:50:56:93:d8:32, length 28
15:17:16.781737 00:50:56:ab:66:d1 > ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 60: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Request who-has 192.91.199.2 tell 192.91.199.1, length 46
15:17:16.781767 00:50:56:93:d8:32 > 00:50:56:ab:66:d1, ethertype ARP (0x0806), length 42: Ethernet (len 6), IPv4 (len 4), Reply 192.91.199.2 is-at 00:50:56:93:d8:32, length 28
Checking in the ARP cache on the vSRX at this point just shows:
![Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 15.12.46.png Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 15.12.46.png]()
The source mac is fxp0 on the vSRX:
![Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 15.13.04.png Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 15.13.04.png]()
(Apologies for photos, that's all I can get from the console!)
I'm familiar with the hardware SRX, but this is the first time I've used the vSRX platform - so it is likely I'm missing something really obvious. Does anyone have any idea what stupid thing I'm doing (or not doing?)
Thanks
Paul.