Physical Link Down with Redundancy Degraded

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Summary

The event indicates that one or more portgroups in the ESX host has lost one redundant uplink to the physical network. The portgroups are still connected and still have one or more redundant uplink remaining.

Example

If vmic1 is one of the three uplinks remaining on vSwitch0 and the VM Network is the only portgroup connected to this vswitch, then the following error occurs if vmnic1 goes down:

Uplink redundancy degraded on virtual switch "vSwitch0". Physical NIC vmnic1 is down. 2 uplinks still up. Affected portgroups: "VM Network"

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x

Resolution

To determine the actual failure or to eliminate possible issues:

 

1. Connect to ESX through SSH or the console and perform the following:

    

    

   1. Identify the available uplinks:

       

      esxcfg-nics -l

       

   2. Remove the reported vmnic from the portgroups:

       

      esxcfg-vswitch -U <affected vmnic> <affected vSwitch>

       

   3. Link available uplinks to the affected portgroups:

       

   esxcfg-vswitch -L <affected vmnic> <affected vSwitch>

    

2. Check the status of the vmnic either from the VMware vSphere client or the ESX service console.

    

• • To check the status from the vSphere client:

 

 

1. 1. 1. Select the ESX host and click the Configuration tab.
      2. Click Networking.
      3. The vmnics currently assigned to virtual switches are displayed in the diagrams. If a vmnic displays a red X, that link is currently down.

 

 

• • To check the status from the service console. Run the following command:

 

[root@server root]# esxcfg-nics -l

The output that appears is similar to the following:

Name PCI Driver Link Speed Duplex Description
vmnic0 04:04.00 tg3 Up 1000Mbps Full Broadcom BCM5780 Gigabit Ethernet
vmnic1 04:04.01 tg3 Up 1000Mbps Full Broadcom BCM5780 Gigabit Ethernet

The Link column specifies the status of the link between the network adapter and the physical switch. The status can be either Up or Down. If there are several network adapters, and some up and some down, you might need to verify that they are connected to the intended physical switch ports. This can be done by bringing down each of the ESX host's ports on the physical switch and running the esxcfg-nics -l command to observe which vmnic is affected.

 

1. Check that the vmnic referred to in the event message is still connected to the switch and configured properly:

    

    

   1. Make sure that the network cable is still connected to the switch and to the host.

       

       

   2. Check that the switch connected to the system is still functioning properly and was not inadvertently misconfigured. Refer to the switch documentation for details.

       

       

   3. Check for activity between the physical switch and the vmnic. This can be indicated either by a network trace or activity LEDs.

       

       

   4. Check for network port settings on the physical switch.
2. Please refer to KB 1000258 to reconfigure the Service Console IP address if the affected vmnic is associated with a Service Console.

 

If the issue is due to your hardware, please contact your hardware vendor for a replacement.

Until this issue is fixed, no traffic reaches the portgroup.