ESXCLI command to enable a disabled vmknic on vDS fails

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Sysadmins may need to temporarily disable a vmknic, perform troubleshooting, and then re-enable the vmknic.

esxcli network ip interface set -i <vmknic> -e false

esxcli network ip interface set -i <vmknic> -e true

The enable command may fail if the vmknic is on vSphere Distributed Switch( vDS), you may see an error similar to:

esxcli network ip interface set -i <vmknic> -e true

SysinfoException: Node (VSI_NODE_net_tcpip_instances_plumb) ; Status(bad0003)= Not found; Message= Instance(1):defaultTcpipStack Input(7) if=5 dvsId=50 ## a8 69 09 fb cf ##-## 8b 32 ## 7a a6 2c e6 portId=528 cnId=819161394 macaddr=00:##:56:##:8d:## tsomss=65535 mtu=1500

Environment

VMware vSphere 5.x

 

VMware vSphere 6.x

 

VMware vSphere 7.x

 

VMware vSphere 8.x

Cause

After disabling the vmknic the associated port may be reclaimed by vDS, so the port may not be available anymore when the vmknic is enabled again.

Resolution

Do not disable/enable the vmknic if it is on vSphere Distributed Switch(vDS).