Intel i40e driver leading to PSOD containing "i40e_lan_xmit_frame"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

VMware vSphere ESXi VM might crash with a PSOD when Intel NIC with driver i40e is installed and the network is under heavy load, with a similar backtrace:

2016-12-07T05:53:21.896Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240dd868:[0x41801ace7827]i40e_lan_xmit_frame@<None>#<None>+0x56b stack: 0x4124240dd800
2016-12-07T05:53:21.896Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240dd928:[0x41801aaf52ec][email protected]#9.2+0xf8 stack: 0x4109a855acc0
2016-12-07T05:53:21.896Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240dd9f8:[0x41801a58a7f4]UplinkDevTransmit@vmkernel#nover+0x418 stack: 0x4109ee462db0
2016-12-07T05:53:21.897Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240dda78:[0x41801acba89b]NetSchedFIFORunLocked@<None>#<None>+0x15f stack: 0x4124240ddbf8
2016-12-07T05:53:21.897Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240ddaa8:[0x41801acbab0b]NetSchedFIFORun@<None>#<None>+0xa3 stack: 0x4124240ddae8
2016-12-07T05:53:21.897Z cpu5:39171)0x4124240ddae8:[0x41801a62dd82]NetSchedDevQueueWdt@vmkernel#nover+0x5a stack: 0x0

Note: This log excerpt is an example. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 or later.

 

This issue is resolved by i40e driver version 1.4.26 and firmware version 5.0, available at Support Documents and Downloads (broadcom.com).

Note: It is recommended to use the native i40en driver in preference to the i40e driver if your adapter supports it. To confirm support for your adapter you can validate it against the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide.