High CPU and memory utilization by the vem-swiscsi process

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• An ESX/ESXi host experiences high CPU and memory utilization by the vem-swiscsi process.
• This issue occurs with Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) 4.0.4.1.3.2.0-2.0.1.
• The issue may occur on a server that does not have a Software iSCSI device.

high-cpu-usage high-memory-usage

Environment

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Resolution

This is not a VMware issue.

This is a known issue with the VEM. For more information, see Cisco Nexus 1000V Release Notes, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3c) and ID CSCtl21012 in the Cisco Bug Toolkit.