VMware ESXi 5.5.x and 6.x hosts experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning ALERT: NMI: 709: NMI IPI received
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VMware ESXi 5.5.x and 6.x hosts experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning ALERT: NMI: 709: NMI IPI received

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Article ID: 317569

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
    • The ESXi 5.5.x and 6.x hosts fails with a purple diagnostic screen.
    • The purple diagnostic screen contains entries similar to:

      @BlueScreen: #PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
      PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]PFrame_SetPinCount@vmkernel#nover+0x3
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]VmMemPin_GetMainMemRange@vmkernel#nover+0x36c
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]P2MCache_Get@vmkernel#nover+0x120
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]P2MCache_GetDirectPA@vmkernel#nover+0x24
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Vmxnet3VMKDevMapRxBufferChunk@vmkernel#nover+0x6e
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Vmxnet3VMKDevRxWithLock@vmkernel#nover+0x5a5
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Vmxnet3VMKDevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x2da
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]IOChain_Resume@vmkernel#nover+0x210
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]PortOutput@vmkernel#nover+0xae
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn][email protected]#v2_3_0_0+0x3e9
      0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]VSIPDVFProcessSlowPathPackets@<None>#<None>+0x16

    Note: For additional symptoms, see the Additional Information section.



    Cause

    This issue occurs when a large number of packets are transmitted/received by a service VM. The DVFilter continues to dominate the CPU resulting in a heartbeat lost and a purple diagnostic screen.

    Resolution

    To resolve this issue, upgrade the ESXi host to any of the following ESXi versions that are the minimum required to use Distributed Service Insertion.

    Additional Information

    You see these additional symptoms:
    • In the var/log/vmkernel.log file of the affected ESXi host, you see entries similar to:

      2015-06-30T10:40:07.522Z cpu0:33372)DVFilter: 917: OOM or retry on 30 bytes long message. Trying again later
      2015-06-30T10:40:16.806Z cpu1:33372)vsip VSIPDVFSetSlowPathReply:287: Slow path reply for filter attach : Success
      2015-06-30T10:40:42.522Z cpu1:33372)DVFilter: 311: Retry on 30 bytes long message. Trying again later
      2015-06-30T10:40:57.334Z cpu12:277957)VSCSIFs: 2235: handle 8193(vscsi0:0):Invalid Opcode (0x4d) from (vmm0:Palo_Alto_Networks_NGFW_(3))
      2015-06-30T10:40:57.390Z cpu12:277957)VSCSIFs: 2235: handle 8193(vscsi0:0):Invalid Opcode (0x4d) from (vmm0:Palo_Alto_Networks_NGFW_(3))
      2015-06-30T10:40:57.447Z cpu12:277957)VSCSIFs: 2235: handle 8193(vscsi0:0):Invalid Opcode (0x4d) from (vmm0:Palo_Alto_Networks_NGFW_(3))
      2015-06-30T10:40:57.447Z cpu12:277957)VSCSIFs: 2235: handle 8193(vscsi0:0):Invalid Opcode (0x37) from (vmm0:Palo_Alto_Networks_NGFW_(3))
      ^[[7m2015-06-30T10:41:10.521Z cpu23:33013)WARNING: Heartbeat: 781: PCPU 0 didn't have a heartbeat for 8 seconds; *may* be locked up.^[[0m
      ^[[31;1m2015-06-30T10:41:10.522Z cpu0:289037)ALERT: NMI: 709: NMI IPI received. Was eip(base):ebp:cs [0x65171(0x41802b200000):0x43940869bdd4:0x4010](Src 0x1, CPU0)^[[0m


      Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.