AzStackHciNetworkTest_InfraIpPoolReadiness

January 15, 2026 · View on GitHub

Name	AzStackHci_Network_Test_InfraIpPoolReadiness
Severity	Critical: This validator will block operations until remediated.
Applicable Scenarios	Deployment

Overview

This validator verifies that the Infrastructure IP Pool (Management IP Range) configuration meets requirements for Azure Local deployment. The validator performs multiple checks to ensure the IP pools are properly configured and available for use.

Requirements

The Infrastructure IP Pool must meet the following requirements:

No Duplicate IPs: IP addresses must not be repeated across different pools
Subnet Alignment: All IP addresses in pools must be within the specified Management Subnet
No Active Hosts: IP addresses in the pool must not respond to ping or have services listening on ports 5986, 5985, or 22
Range Size: The total number of IP addresses across all pools must be between 6 and 255
Pool Count: Must have 1 or 2 IP pools. If 2 pools are provided, the first pool must contain exactly 1 IP address

Troubleshooting Steps

Review Environment Validator Output

Review the Environment Validator output JSON. This validator performs multiple checks and may report different failure types. Check the Name and AdditionalData.Detail fields to identify the specific issue.

Check 1: IP Pools Subnet and No Duplicates

Validator Name: AzStackHci_Network_Test_IP_Pools_Subnet_No_Duplicates

Example Output

{
  "Name": "AzStackHci_Network_Test_IP_Pools_Subnet_No_Duplicates",
  "Title": "Test IP Pools in Management Subnet and No duplicate IPs in IpPools",
  "DisplayName": "Test IP Pools 192.168.1.0/24",
  "Status": 1,
  "Severity": 2,
  "Description": "Checking start and end address are on the same subnet",
  "Remediation": "https://aka.ms/hci-envch",
  "TargetResourceID": "IpPool-192.168.1.0/24",
  "TargetResourceName": "ManagementIPRange",
  "TargetResourceType": "Network Range",
  "AdditionalData": {
    "Detail": "Ip Pools have duplicates or do not fall in subnet 192.168.1.0/24",
    "Status": "FAILURE"
  }
}

Root Cause

One or more of the following issues exists:

IP addresses are duplicated across different pools
IP addresses in the pools are not within the specified Management Subnet
IP ranges within pools overlap

Remediation Steps

Review your IP pool configuration and ensure no IP addresses are repeated:

# Example: Check your IP pool configuration, below is a wrong configuration as IP 192.168.1.10 is duplicated.
         "IPPools": [
           {
             "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.10",
             "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.10"
           },
           {
             "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.10",
             "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.20"
           }
         ],

Verify all IP addresses are within the Management Subnet:

# Verify IPs are in subnet
 "InfrastructureNetwork": [
     {
         "VlanId": "0",
         "SubnetMask": "255.255.255.0",
         "Gateway": "192.168.1.1",
         ...
     },
     ...
 ]
# Ensure all IPs from pools fall within this subnet range

For example, above "SubnetMask" definition will give you a "/24" subnet and all the IP defined in section "InfrastructureNetwork | IPPools" should fall into subnet 192.168.1.0/24.

Remove any duplicate or overlapping IP addresses from your pool configuration in the JSON
Make sure all IP defined in "IPPools" are in the subnet defined by "SubnetMask".
Re-run the Environment Validator

Check 2: Management IP Range Subnet

Validator Name: AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Subnet

Example Output

{
  "Name": "AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Subnet",
  "Title": "Test Management IP Subnet",
  "DisplayName": "Test Management IP Subnet 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.20",
  "Status": 1,
  "Severity": 2,
  "Description": "Checking start and end address are on the same subnet",
  "Remediation": "https://aka.ms/hci-envch",
  "TargetResourceID": "192.168.1.10-192.168.1.20",
  "TargetResourceName": "ManagementIPRange",
  "TargetResourceType": "Network Range",
  "AdditionalData": {
    "Detail": "IP range 192.168.1.10 - 192.168.1.20 is not in the management subnet",
    "Status": "FAILURE"
  }
}

Root Cause

The starting or ending IP address in a pool is not within the specified Management Subnet.

Remediation Steps

Verify the Management Subnet CIDR notation is correct:

# Verify IPs are in subnet
 "InfrastructureNetwork": [
     {
         "VlanId": "0",
         "SubnetMask": "255.255.255.0",
         "Gateway": "192.168.1.1",
         ...
     },
     ...
 ]
# Ensure all IPs from pools fall within this subnet range

Ensure both starting and ending addresses are within the subnet:

# Example: Check your IP pool configuration, below is a wrong configuration as IP 192.168.2.10 is not in subnet 192.168.1.0/24
 "IPPools": [
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.2.10",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.2.10"
     },
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.12",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.20"
     }
 ],

Update your IP pool configuration with valid addresses from the subnet defined by "SubnetMask".
Re-run the Environment Validator

Check 3: No Active Hosts in IP Range

Validator Name: AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_No_Active_Hosts

Example Output

{
  "Name": "AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_No_Active_Hosts",
  "Title": "Test Management IP Range for Active Hosts",
  "DisplayName": "Test Management IP Range 192.168.1.15 for Active Hosts",
  "Status": 1,
  "Severity": 2,
  "Description": "Checking no hosts respond on Management IP range",
  "Remediation": "https://aka.ms/hci-envch",
  "TargetResourceID": "192.168.1.15",
  "TargetResourceName": "ManagementIPRange",
  "TargetResourceType": "Network Range",
  "AdditionalData": {
    "Source": "192.168.1.15",
    "Resource": "ICMP/SSH/WINRM",
    "Detail": "Ping:True, 5986:False, 5985:True, 22:False",
    "Status": "FAILURE"
  }
}

Root Cause

An IP address in the pool is currently in use. The AdditionalData.Detail field shows which connectivity tests passed:

Ping: True means the IP responds to ICMP ping
5986: True means WinRM HTTPS (port 5986) is responding
5985: True means WinRM HTTP (port 5985) is responding
22: True means SSH (port 22) is responding

Remediation Steps

Identify what device is using the IP address:

# Test connectivity to the IP
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName <IP-Address> -InformationLevel Detailed

# Try to identify the device
Resolve-DnsName -Name <IP-Address> -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Check ARP cache
Get-NetNeighbor -IPAddress <IP-Address>

Choose one of the following options:
- Option A: Change the IP address of the device using this IP to an address outside the pool
- Option B: Modify your IP pool configuration to exclude the IPs that are in use

Verify the IP is no longer in use:

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName <IP-Address> -InformationLevel Quiet

Re-run the Environment Validator

Check 4: IP Range Size

Validator Name: AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Size

Example Output

{
  "Name": "AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Size",
  "Title": "Test Management IP Range Size",
  "DisplayName": "Test Management IP Range Size of all the pools. 4 ips found.",
  "Status": 1,
  "Severity": 2,
  "Description": "Checking management IP range size is between 6-16",
  "Remediation": "https://aka.ms/hci-envch",
  "TargetResourceID": "Size:4",
  "TargetResourceName": "ManagementIPRange",
  "TargetResourceType": "Network Range",
  "AdditionalData": {
    "Detail": "Management IP range size must be between 6 and 255",
    "Status": "FAILURE"
  }
}

Root Cause

The total number of IP addresses across all pools is either:

Less than 6 (insufficient IPs for deployment)
Greater than 255 (exceeds maximum supported range)

Remediation Steps

Calculate the total number of IPs in your pools:

# Example calculation
# Pool 1: 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.15 = 6 IPs
# Pool 2: 192.168.1.20 to 192.168.1.25 = 6 IPs
# Total: 12 IPs

Adjust your IP pools to provide between 6 and 255 IP addresses total:

# Example: Single pool with 10 IPs
 "IPPools": [
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.10",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.19"
     }
 ]

Re-run the Environment Validator

Check 5: IP Pool Count

Validator Name: AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Pool_Count

Example Output

{
  "Name": "AzStackHci_Network_Test_Management_IP_Range_Pool_Count",
  "Title": "Test Management IP Pool Count",
  "DisplayName": "Test Management IP Range Number of IP Pools.",
  "Status": 1,
  "Severity": 2,
  "Description": "Checking management IP pools has one or two pools. First pool must only have 1 ip if 2 pools",
  "Remediation": "https://aka.ms/hci-envch",
  "TargetResourceID": "Count:3",
  "TargetResourceName": "ManagementIPRange",
  "TargetResourceType": "Network Range",
  "AdditionalData": {
    "Detail": "Found 3 pools. Expected 1 or 2 pools. If 2 pools, first pool must contain exactly 1 IP address.",
    "Status": "FAILURE"
  }
}

Root Cause

One of the following pool configuration issues exists:

More than 2 IP pools are defined
Exactly 2 pools are defined, but the first pool contains more than 1 IP address

Remediation Steps

If you have more than 2 pools, consolidate them into 1 or 2 pools:

# Instead of 3 pools:
# Pool 1: 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.12
# Pool 2: 192.168.1.20-192.168.1.22
# Pool 3: 192.168.1.30-192.168.1.32

# Use 1 consolidated pool:
 "IPPools": [
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.10",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.30"
     }
 ]

If you have 2 pools, ensure the first pool contains exactly 1 IP:

# Correct configuration with 2 pools
 "IPPools": [
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.10",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.10"
     }, # First pool: 1 IP
     {
     "StartingAddress": "192.168.1.12",
     "EndingAddress": "192.168.1.20"
     } # Second pool: more IPs
 ]

Re-run the Environment Validator

Additional Notes

The validator will restart the Device Management Service (if present) after validation to refresh network adapter details to Azure
When using 2 pools, the first pool (containing 1 IP) is reserved for cluster IP.
All validations must pass for the deployment to proceed