ESXi with vmnic adapter "QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter" experiences link state down / flap.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• For ESXi with vmnic adapter "QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter", link state down error / alarm is received in the vCenter.
• In the host's /var/log/vobd.log, we see link state down / up messages similar to the below:
  
  [netCorrelator] 17851804015715us: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.down] vmnic vmnicX linkstate down
[netCorrelator] 17851820832832us: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.up] vmnic vmnicX linkstate up
[....]
[netCorrelator] 18454200492904us: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.down] vmnic vmnicX linkstate down
[netCorrelator] 18454216994902us: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.up] vmnic vmnicX linkstate up
  
  
• Just before the vmnic link state is reported down, we see parity errors in the /var/log/vmkernel.log similar to the below:
  
  cpu0:9215332)WARNING: qfle3: qfle3_parity_attn:16971: [vmnicX] Parity errors detected in blocks:
[....]
cpu1:9861487)WARNING: qfle3: qfle3_parity_attn:16971: [vmnicX] Parity errors detected in blocks:
  
  
• In the same /var/log/vmkernel.log, we may see the driver initiating auto-recovery and therefore, the link state may come back up:
  
  cpu2:2097934)qfle3: qfle3_parity_recover:17661: [vmnicX] Run Recovery Helper Task
[....]
cpu15:2097934)qfle3: qfle3_parity_recover:17661: [vmnicX] Run Recovery Helper Task

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

Parity errors, generally, occur either due to faulty hardware or, running an outdated vmnic driver / firmware.

Resolution

To fix the issue, below steps can be followed:

• Upgrade the vmnic driver and firmware to the latest supported version - Download and install async drivers in VMware ESXi.
• Should the issue still persist, engage your hardware vendor to determine if the card is faulty.