Physical network connectivity lost on servers with activated ASPM

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Under heavy workloads, servers lose their physical network connectivity.
• When this issue occurs, you can only recover the network connection by rebooting the server.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded

Cause

This issue occurs if Advanced State Power Management (ASPM) is activated at the BIOS / EFI of the server and the adapter used is unable to support ASPM.

Some network adapters based on the Intel 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller do not support ASPM, for example:

• Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR1
• Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-SR2
• Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-LR2
• Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-DA1
• Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520-DA2
  
  Note: This is not a complete list. There may be other PCIe adapters that do not support ASPM.

Resolution

To resolve or avoid network connectivity issues, disable ASPM on the BIOS / EFI configuration of the server. When ASPM is disabled, PCIe adapters without ASPM support operate normally.

Additional Information

For related information on the Intel X520 Network Adapter Family, see the Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520 Product Family page.

Impact/Risks: