VMNIC is not loaded on the ESXi host after reboot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• ESXi hosts experience a condition where one or more vmnics are missing from the network configuration after a reboot.
• Driver and Firmware combination for the Network Adapter is compatible as per VMware by Broadcom HCL.
  
  
• Following messages are reported in /var/log/vmkdevmgr.log in the ESXi host
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSZ Wa(12) vmkdevmgr[2097932] vmkmod: VMKModLoad: Module <driver-name> is disabled and cannot be loaded.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSZ Wa(12) vmkdevmgr[2097932] Error loading driver <driver-name>: Unable to load module /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/<driver-name>: Failure
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSZ Wa(12) vmkdevmgr[2097932] Unable to load driver <driver-name>


• Although the physical hardware is detected at the PCI level, the corresponding network interface does not appear in the ESXi networking stack.
  • Following command has to be executed to confirm:
    • lspci -v | grep -A1 -i ethernet 
• Running the command esxcli system module get -m <driver-name> reports Cannot access module instance
• Running esxcli system module list command reports the driver module is not enabled and loaded
  
[root@<hostname>:~] esxcli system module list | grep <driver-name>
Name                           Is Loaded   Is Enabled
-----------------------------  ---------  ----------
<driver-name>                    false      false
  
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the driver module is not enabled and loaded in the ESXi host.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, follow the below steps.

1. Run the below commands to enable and load the driver module on the ESXi host. 

esxcli system module set -m <driver-name> --enabled=true
esxcli system module load -m <driver-name>

2. Once the driver module is enabled and loaded, reboot the ESXi host.

3. After reboot, confirm the driver is enabled and loaded by running the below command.

[root@esxi-1:/var/log] esxcli system module list | grep <driver-name>
Name                           Is Loaded   Is Enabled
-----------------------------  ---------  ----------
<driver-name>                    true        true

4. Run esxcfg-nics -l or esxcli network nic list command to confirm the vmnics are visible on the ESXi after the reboot.