RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.x virtual machines lose network connectivity when using e1000 NIC

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When using e1000 NIC with RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.x virtual machines, you experience these symptoms:

• The e1000 NIC becomes disabled
• The virtual machines lose network connectivity
• In the /var/log/messages log file of the Linux guest operating system, you see the error:
  
  kernel: irq <###>: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option)
  
  Where <###> is an integer

Environment

VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded

Resolution

Resolution

To resolve this issue, upgrade to Redhat kernel-2.6.18-238.3.1.el5. For more information, see Red Hat Bug 670807.

Workarounds

To temporarily work around this issue without rebooting the virtual machine, unload and reload the e1000 network driver.

To unload and reload the e1000 network driver, run these commands in the guest operating system:

# rmmod e1000
# modprobe e1000

As an alternative workaround, try adding another vNIC with a VMXNET as an adapter type, then removing the one that is using the e1000 network driver.

For more information on adding or modifying a virtual machine's virtual network interfaces and for the appropriate ESXi version, see the Configuring and Managing Virtual Machines - Network Virtual Machine Configuration section of the Virtual Machine Administration Guide.