NIC teaming using EtherChannel leads to intermittent network connectivity in ESXi

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When trying to team NICs using EtherChannel, the network connectivity is disrupted on an ESXi host. This issue occurs because NIC teaming properties do not propagate to the Management Network portgroup in ESXi.

When you configure the ESXi host for NIC teaming by setting the Load Balancing to Route based on ip hash, this configuration is not propagated to Management Network portgroup.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded

Resolution

Workaround

 

Note: To reduce the chance of network connection loss please change the vSwitch load balancing to Route based on IP hash using this method

1. Shut down all ports in the team from the physical switch leaving a single port as active.
2. Change the load balancing to Routebased on ip hash on the vSwitch and Management Portgroup.
3. Configure the port channel on the physical switch.
4. Enable the ports on the physical switch.

Notes: Using this method will prevent a connection loss when changing to a port channel. Also make sure that under the portgroup properties for vmk# used for management network you check mark the box "Enabled".

 

If you have already changed the vSwitch load balancing to Route based on IP hash, then set the same for Management Network portgroup.

1. Log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.
2. Select the ESXi Server host.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. Click the Networking link.
5. Click Properties link for the management network portgroup.
6. Highlight the virtual switch in the Ports tab and click Edit.
7. Click the NIC Teaming tab.
8. Choose Route based on IP hash from the Load Balancing dropdown.
9. Verify that there are two or more network adapters listed under Active Adapters.

To configure NIC teaming for Distributed portgroup for VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS).

1. Log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.
2. From Inventory, go to Networking.
3. Expand the Distributed switch.
4. Right-click the Management Network Distributed Port Group.
5. Click Edit Settings.
6. Click Teaming and Failover.
7. Select Route based on IP hash from the Load Balancing dropdown.
8. Click OK.

Use these commands if the host does not stay connected to vCenter Server after the vSwitch load balancing policy change:

# vim-cmd hostsvc/net/vswitch_setpolicy --nicteaming-policy=loadbalance_ip vSwitch0
# vim-cmd hostsvc/net/portgroup_set --nicteaming-policy=loadbalance_ip vSwitch0 "Management Network"

 

For more information, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).

 

Additional Information

 

For translated versions of this article, see:

 

• Español: Al utilizar EtherChannel, la formación de equipos de NIC ocasiona conectividad de red intermitente en ESXi (2073033)
• Portuguese: Agregação de NIC com os terminais EtherChannel para conectividade de rede intermitente no ESXi (2032320).
• 日本語: EtherChannel を使用した NIC チーミングにより、ESXi のネットワーク接続が断続的になる (2078753)
• 简体中文: 使用以太通道进行网卡绑定导致 ESXi 中的网络连接时断时续 (2075137)