Hello,
195.x.x.9 → First IP
195.x.x.1 → gateway
255.255.255.255 → network mask
212.x.x.19 → Failover IP
195.x.x.1 → gateway (same as first IP’s)
255.255.255.255 → network mask
The first IP is used by ESXi. I am setting mikrotik on the failover IP.
Normally I would have 212.x.x.19 in the address with identical address as the network (mask). Then I’d go to route and have 0.0.0.0/0 as the destination address with 195.x.x.1 as the gateway.
That somehow doesn’t work… I suspect if the gateway is within the same /24 range as 212.x.x.19 it then should work. But how can I get it to work under this scenario?
The combination of IP number and network mask tells a host which range of IPs it can access on that interface. A mask of 255.255.255.255 is indicating that the given IP is the only address on that network. If there isn’t a second IP with a wider mask on the same interface the system will not communicate with adjacent IP numbers.
The 255.255.255.255 mask is typically used when adding secondary IP addresses to an interface.
195.x.x.9 → First IP
195.x.x.1 → gateway
255.255.255.255 → network mask
yes i agree and i do think above is incorrect. and when i looked at the ESXi setting, it is showing 255.255.255.0. however that isn’t the problem, for now (it should be a problem much later on when i am further changing the network layout).
212.x.x.19 → Failover IP
195.x.x.1 → gateway (same as first IP’s)
255.255.255.255 → network mask
this, i tested on a XP within the ESXi, worked, albeit that i need to regedit to change it from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.255.255. before i got it working under XP, i challenged them as this setting just doesn’t make much sense to me also. however i eventually had XP running.
so, if it works under XP, it should also work in mikrotik, isn’t it. hence i am looking for a way to get it to work.
any suggestion what and how i can try it? at the moment i am out of idea…
ok after playing around with it, finally had it working
address 212.x.x.19, network 195.x.x.1
route dst address 0.0.0.0/0 gateway 195.x.x.1
it was a lucky guess 
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one question though, if i move ESXi to be behind this router, then have 195.x.x.9 (first IP) used for another router, CelticComms, you mentioned that 212.x.x.19 is a secondary ip, could this set up cause the whole thing stop working?