VMware ESX/ESXi host network flapping error when Beacon Probing is selected

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cisco 3560G network switch reports this error:
  
  Log Buffer (4096 bytes):
  12:18:49.491: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.565d.7715 in vlan 3 is flapping between port Gi0/2 and port Gi0/5
  Jul 22 12:18:54.499: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.565d.7716 in vlan 11 is flapping between port Gi0/7 and port Gi0/11
  Jul 22 12:18:55.136: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.565d.7717 in vlan 11 is flapping between port Gi0/12 and port Gi0/8
  Jul 22 12:19:04.481: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.565d.7714 in vlan 3 is flapping between port Gi0/1 and port Gi0/
  
• VMware vCenter Server and VMware Infrastructure Client lose their connection to the ESX host.
• This issue occurs when Beacon Probing is enabled with Etherchannel.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 6.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x

Resolution

Flapping error occurs when the same MAC address is coming from two different physical ports. This may occur, for example, if two physical ports are connected to different ESX hosts.

To resolve this issue, ensure that Network Failover detection is set to Link Status Only. Do not use beacon probing with IP hash load balancing.

Note: Always use IP hash load balancing with Etherchannel.

For more information, see Sample configuration of EtherChannel / Link aggregation with ESX/ESXi and Cisco/HP switches (1004048).

Additional Information

For more information on beacon probing, see What is beacon probing? (1005577).

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