Virtual machine(s) on an ESXi host lose network connectivity

Products

• VMware NSX
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Virtual machine(s) on one ESXi host lose network connectivity
• In the /var/log/vmkernel.log file of the ESXi host where the virtual machine is running, you see entries similar to:
  
  WARNING: NetPort: 1579: failed to enable port 0x3000023: Out of memory
  WARNING: Net: vm 290838: 5618: cannot enable port 0x3000023: Out of memory
  WARNING: Heap: 3583: Heap etherswitch already at its maximum size. Cannot expand.
  
  Note: If Port Mirroring is used, see Virtual machines lose connectivity after enabling Port Mirroring on vSphere Distributed Switch (2099838).
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Cause

This issue occurs due to a memory leak caused by IOChainClientStats.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi 6.5, available at VMware Downloads.

Note: This is a known issue affecting VMware ESXi 6.0.x.

Additional Information

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