When setting up a vmPRO deployment, one commonly overlooked detail is functional DNS domain/host name resolution. If you are using DHCP to configure the first network interface 'eth0' on the vmPRO, then chances are this will be set properly automatically. If you switch the IP settings to Manual Mode, then it can be very easy to forget to specify your DNS servers since that setting is under a different option in the menu.

Make sure to always check that valid DNS severs are specified under the 'DNS Servers' menu in the vmPRO setup console. Additionally, you can verify that DNS resolution is functioning properly by using the ping command from the CLI.

Note: In vmPRO forward resolution is required when using host names, but reverse lookup support is not necessary.

vmPRO> net nslookup hostname

vmPRO> net ping hostname

It also helps to specify your DNS search domains, especially if you have multiple different subdomains in use in your vSphere environment. This way if the appliance should ever need to resolve a host when given only the short non-fully qualified host name, we have a good chance of being able to resolve it in the appropriate domain.

DNS resolution is particularly important if you are using vmPRO Group Mode and are registering the other nodes in the group by host name. In fact, you may want to consider adding each of your vmPRO nodes into the hosts list on each appliance in the group. This way your vmPRO nodes can always resolve each other and communicate even if DNS service should be interrupted or un-available. You can do this over the vmPRO CLI like this:

vmPRO> net hosts show

vmPRO> net hosts add 192.168.60.10 vmPRO-NODE2 vmPRO-NODE2.backup.domain.com

Thats it! With these settings stored and tested you can be assured of proper host name resolution and reliable communication between the nodes in your vmPRO group! If you are trying to diagnose any unusual connectivity issues this is a great place to start looking.