VMWare Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter - Missing Properties?

Question

I'm a developer that has been tasked with resolving performance issues on a VM server (bad pings, bad response times from IIS, sluggish remote connections, etc.). I know the VM is hosted on ESX but I don't have access to the host. I have access to the VM (Win2K3 Standard SP2) and I've noticed that the VMWare Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter on the problematic server has only 3 properties whereas it has many properties on other VMs that work fine.

Present:

• MTU
• NetworkAddress
• TsoEnable

Missing:

• External PHY
• Full Duplex
• IEE 802.1p Tagging
• MP Mode
• TCP/IP Offload
• TP Mode

It was suggested to me by a friend, before I noticed the missing properties, that the VM Tools might have been corrupted and that I should re-install them. I also saw similar suggestions when googling the missing adapter properties.

My question: Is it normal to have only 3 advanced properties for the PCNet adapter? Or is this a sign of corrupted tools that need to be reinstalled? Our infrastructure team is overburdened as it is and I want to be reasonably sure before I approach them to help us reinstall the tools.

Answer 1

You can't really fix this without ESX access, you won't know what version it is, what the vSwitch setup is, what the physical network architecture is - plus you won't be able to update/reinstall vmtools, change the vNIC type if beneficial, look at the network io stats.

Basically you're flying blind - just work with your ESX admin - he'll need help from you and you need help from him. It's pointless doing anything else.