A VMware SD-WAN Edge Using Release 4.3.0 or Earlier May Unexpectedly Experience an Edge Service Restart

Products

• VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

VMware SD-WAN Edge Dataplane Service randomly restarts with a disruption of customer traffic due to the restart(s). 

Environment

VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud

Cause

When packets are pinned to a decryption thread and then floated to another decryption thread, those packets are rejected by the non-owning thread. In the process of rejecting the packets, the associated Intel® QuickAssist Technology (QAT) cryptographic reference was incorrectly released leading to exceptions in the Edge Dataplane Service and a resulting failure and restart.

This is caused by a race condition (timing related) introduced when a link goes down and then re-establishes repeatedly (also known as link flapping).

Resolution

Reach out to VMware Support or assistance in solving the issue.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

If a Dataplane Service restarts, customer traffic is impacted because the Edge temporarily stops forwarding traffic until the Dataplane Service completes its startup.