Slow Network Issue on ESXi4 (2024)

I have a huge RAID 5 NAS device (10.1.1.115/24) on my network and the machine I use to connect to my ESXi server is 10.1.1.50/24. However I do have a server running ESXi on my DMZ interface of my Firewall (Cisco ASA) and the ESXi server IP is 192.168.0.200/24. The problem is when I connect to any server running ESXi from VMware client on 10.1.1.50/24 it works great except the one server on the DMZ interface which is 192.168.0.200/24. I can connect but when I try to install any virtual machines on this host, it takes hours rather than minutes. I can only assume the problem is that I'm trying to build a virtual machine on the DMZ network (192.168.0.x/24) rather than the 10.1.1.x/24 network like I normally do. I don't have any conenction errors and nothing is being blocked at all. It's just beyond slow. If I build a virtual server, I usually leave it for the next day because that's how long the disk formatting takes.

Anyone have any suggestions? Just to be clear:

10.1.1.50 (VMware client) ---> 10.1.1.x (ESXi server) = no problem

10.1.1.50 (VMware client) ---> 192.168.0.x (ESXi server) = super slow disk formatting and installation

All ESXi servers use NFS to map to the NAS device listed above where all the virtual machine shares are stored.

Please help!

You state that your server is in the DMZ.. You also have a Cisco ASA in between.

If it is the base 5505 or the base 5510 then you are running @ 100Mbps instead of 1000Mbps.

This is why it is slow. You connection to your NAS is running @ 100Mbps.. so you are going to be limited to 7-10MB a sec transfer instead of a normal 50-80MB (1Gbps) transfer rate between the host and the storage. Also, any client mapping of ISO will also be limited.

Hope that helps.

Larry B.

This makes no sense. Yes that ASA 5505 runs at 100 MBPS but when I change the IP on my DMZ server to 10.1.1.x which is on the same subnet as my NFS share where all the datastore is located on, it works perfect (100 MBPS) but when I switch back to the DMZ network, it's dog slow. I would expect everything to be the same and don't think the Firewall's 10/100 limitation matters at all or else all servers on the 10.1.1.x and the 192.168.0.x networks would be the same.

I don't know your environment. I don't know how it is all wired up or what type of switches you are using aside from the ASA.

I also don't know the circumstances of why your ESXi server is in the DMZ.

What u can do is put your ESXi server in your private network, create a DMZ vswitch and connect up a nic or 2 from the esxi server to the DMZ switch (ASA).

Configure the esxi server to have a 10.x.x.x address as well as the 10.x.x.x gateway.

Connect the VM's that need to be in the DMZ to the DMZ vswitch. The vm will communicate only on the DMZ and the storage end will communicate over the private network.

Just trying to help ya.

And I appreciate your help / assistance. I did verify that my ASA Firewall (5520) is 1000 Mbps. Sadly the issue I now see is a switch between the two is 10/100 Mbps. I'm replacing this Tueday to see if it's as simple as that. Then I can get more savy and start creating vhosts.

Thank you!

for my case i do not have the luxury for extra switches, what i did was to built the VM under local LAN and then change the vswitch to DMZ.

Yes the 5520 has 4x 1Gbps. Hopefully, the switch is the issue it solves your problem.

I have a couple of hundred of VM’s and quite a few subnets and a few VM’s in our DMZ.

The connection here between the datacenter and our office is 100Mbps. And if I have to connect an iso from the office to the datacenter, it’s painfully slow. It’s faster and likely less stressful to watch paint dry.

Larry B.