VMware ESXi 5.5.x and 6.x hosts experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning ALERT: NMI: 709: NMI IPI received
book
Article ID: 317569
calendar_today
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.
ESXi 5.5 Patch 10 (Build 4722766), available at VMware Downloads.