Virtual machines with multiple network adapters connected to virtual Distributed Switch (vDS) lose network connectivity after a successful HA Failover
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Virtual machines with multiple network adapters connected to virtual Distributed Switch (vDS) lose network connectivity after a successful HA Failover

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Article ID: 307467

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • High Availability failover occurs and virtual machines are restarted on a new ESXi/ESX host.
  • A virtual machine has multiple network adapters attached to multiple virtual Distributed Switches (vDS) with the same port number.
  • After the virtual machine powers on, the network adapters have no network connectivity.
  • Attempting to manually connect the virtual network card using the vSphere Client may fail with the error:

    invalid configuration for device

  • In the vmware.log file, you see entries similar to:

    [msg.ethernet.e1000.openFailed] Failed to connect ethernet0
    VMXNET3 user: failed to connect Ethernet1 to DV Port 100
    VMXNET3 user: failed to connect Ethernet1 to DV Port 101
    VMXNET3 user: failed to connect Ethernet1 to DV Port 103

  • In the /var/log/hostd.log file, you see entries similar to:

    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 1 on dvs cb 8f 1e 50 fb 06 20 37-b8 06 e0 2b 17 b4 b3 ad not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 100 on dvs cb 8f 1e 50 fb 06 20 37-b8 06 e0 2b 17 b4 b3 ad not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 100 on dvs 99 4a 1e 50 89 ee 2c ab-70 4b bb 59 36 04 c6 79 not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 101 on dvs cb 8f 1e 50 fb 06 20 37-b8 06 e0 2b 17 b4 b3 ad not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 101 on dvs 99 4a 1e 50 89 ee 2c ab-70 4b bb 59 36 04 c6 79 not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 103 on dvs cb 8f 1e 50 fb 06 20 37-b8 06 e0 2b 17 b4 b3 ad not found
    YYYY-MM-DD TIME Z [20544B90 verbose 'NetworkProvider'] DVPort 103 on dvs 99 4a 1e 50 89 ee 2c ab-70 4b bb 59 36 04 c6 79 not found


Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x

Cause

The Fault Domain Manager (FDM) stores information about the virtual machines it protects in a mapping file. If a virtual machine has multiple network adapters attached to multiple virtual Distributed Switches (vDS) with the same port number, it will only store one vDS port in the mapping file. When a failover occurs, the FDM fails to load the other ports and results in a network outage for the virtual machine.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting vCenter Server 5.0/5.1 and ESXi 5.1.

This issue is resolved in:
Note: Ensure to apply the update/patch to both ESXi and vCenter Server. Applying the update or patch to one of the products does not automatically resolve the issue in the other.

To work around this issue:
  1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
  2. Right click on the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
  3. Under the virtual network adapter, change the port group to any other portgroup on the virtual switch.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Once the settings have been applied, set the portgroup back to the original.
If this does not resolve the issue, migrate the virtual machine to another host and then power cycle it.

Additional Information

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VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch Release ESXi510-201404001

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