False positive alert for ESXi host has detected a link status down on a physical NIC in Aria Operations

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

• There is a feature request in progress to distinguish between NICs that are down intentionally and NICs that have a valid alert.
• This article describes a workaround for users affected by this issue until such time as the feature request is completed.

Symptoms:

• ESXi host will alert for Physical NIC link state down even when the link is unused.
• The symptom definition will trigger an alert for the unused link.

 

Environment

VMware vRealize Operations 8.6.x
VMware vRealize Operations 8.10.x

Cause

The ESXi host alert will check all vmnic interfaces and cannot distinguish between valid down or unused ports.

Resolution

• This is a known issue and a feature request has been submitted.
• The workaround provides a method of turning off the alert on unused NICs while maintaining alert on used NICs. 

Workaround:

• Create one super metric for each vmnic to be included in monitoring.
• Browse to this LINK for steps to create a super metric.
• Copy and Paste this formula when creating the super metric, adjusting the vmnic# as appropriate.
  • count(${this, metric=net:vmnic4|nicDriver}) && !count(${this, metric=net:vmnic4|speed})
• The formula will output 1 if vmnic4 is down and 0 if it is up or does not exist.
• Finally create a symptom and an alert for each super metric created above.
  • To create a SYMPTOM definition.
  • To create an ALERT definition.
• Note the workaround is considered to be customization and not supported by GSS, please engage PSO or VMware TAM if assistance is required.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

• Two workarounds exist:
  • Disable the alert "ESXi host has detected a link status down on a physical NIC" in all policies
  • Apply the workaround described below.
• If the alert is disabled then valid link down alerts will not be generated resulting in possible outages and delay in resolution.