Access to sensors using IPMI fails with cc=0xd2 causing vMotion issues and host hang

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

IPMI sensor access issues can cause problems including:

• Hardware status of the host is not reported properly.
• syslog.log or hostd.log contains errors such as:
  • IpmiIfcSensorGetReading: Sensor Number 0xX, failed send cc = 0xd2
  • IpmiIfcFruGetInv: fruDeviceId=0xX, failed send cc=0xcb
  • IpmiIfcSdrReadRecordId:record id: X, error 210
• vMotion tasks time out or stall.
• ESXi host becomes unresponsive or intermittent "not responding" states in vCenter Server.

• BMC/IPMI completion code 0xd2 errors.

 

Environment

• VMware ESXi 7.0, 8.0
• BMC/IPMI hardware interfaces

Cause

The issue is caused by a BMC/IPMI lockup. The BMC fails to provide a response, causing the hostd process to hang while querying hardware sensors. This cascade prevents the host from establishing internal transport connections, resulting in service starvation.

Resolution

1. Place the affected ESXi host into Maintenance Mode.
2. Attempt a cold boot or manual BMC/IPMI reset via your hardware out-of-band management interface (e.g., iLO, iDRAC, XCC) to clear the hardware lockup.
3. Update the BMC and system firmware to the latest stable release provided by your hardware vendor, ensuring compatibility with your current ESXi version.
4. Exit Maintenance Mode and execute test vMotion tasks to verify cluster stability.
5. If the issue persists, collect logs from the affected host and contact your hardware vendor for further assistance.

Note: Always ensure virtual machines are fully evacuated and safely backed up before flashing hardware firmware.