Clearing the ARP cache table in ESXi 5.5

For more information, see Troubleshooting network connection issues using Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) (1008184).

To clear the ARP cache table in ESXi 5.5, use this command:

esxcli network ip neighbor remove [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][options]

Where options includes:

• -i string or --interface-name=string

  Where string is the name of the VMkernel network interface from which the neighbor entry must be removed. If this option is not specified, the neighbor is removed from all interfaces.

• -a address or --neighbor-addr=address

  Where address is the IPv4/IPv6 address of the neighbor. This is mandatory.

• -N instance or --netstack=instance

  Where instance is the network stack instance. If unspecified, the default netstack instance is used.
• -v number or --version=number

  Where number is the IP version and can either be 4 or 6. This is mandatory.

For example, to delete the ARP entry for address 10.131.0.103:

1. Connect to the ESXi 5.5 host using SSH. For more information, see Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x (1017910).
2. View the current ARP table using this command:

   # esxcli network ip neighbor list

   You see output similar to:

   Neighbor      Mac Address        Vmknic    Expiry  State  Type
------------  -----------------  ------   -------  -----  -----
10.131.0.103  00:1c:c4:a9:6f:fc   vmk0     908 sec        Unknown
10.131.0.179  00:1e:0b:bf:7a:50   vmk0    1062 sec        Unknown

3. To delete the ARP entry for address 10.131.0.103, run one of these commands:
   • # esxcli network ip neighbor -v 4 -a 10.131.0.103
   • # esxcli network ip neighbor --version=4 --neighbor-addr=10.131.0.103
4. View the ARP table again using this command:

   # esxcli network ip neighbor list

   You see output similar to:

   Neighbor      Mac Address        Vmknic    Expiry  State  Type
------------  -----------------  ------   -------  -----  -----
10.131.0.179  00:1e:0b:bf:7a:50   vmk0    750 sec        Unknown