ESXi host fails with PSOD "#PF Exception 14 in world ######:HELPER_UPLIN IP 0x####### addr #x##"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

Issue/Introduction

^{Host in PSOD with the following backtrace:}

          ^{indrv_SetRssEngineConfig
          UplinkNetq_SetHwRSSGenEngineConfig
          NetqueueBalBuildRSSEngineForRxQueue
          NetqueueBalActivatePendingRxQueues
          NetqueueBalRxQueueCommitChanges
          UplinkNetqueueBal_BalanceCB
          UplinkAsyncProcessCallsHelperCB
          HelperQueueFunc
          CpuSched_StartWorld
          Debug_IsInitialized}

Environment

^{VMware vSphere Esxi 7.x}

Cause

^{The PSOD is caused by accessing an invalid address inside the ixgben driver.}

Resolution

^{This issue has been resolved in the driver ixgben version 1.14.2.0 and above.}

^{Workaround: There is a workaround to avoid a PSOD (Purple Screen of Death) by disabling the ixgben RSS feature, though this comes with the penalty of performance degradation.}

^{To disable RSS, set the module parameter to 'RSS=0,0,0...' and reboot the system. You can do this with the following command:}

^{esxcfg-module -s 'RSS=0,0,0…' ixgben}