Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ network cards are invisible after upgrading the host to ESXi 8.0 Update 3b

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• The network cards are visible on lspic/pci bus only, driver is not loaded.
• /var/log/vmkernel.log contains the following entries:

2025-03-27T11:01:37.141Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu62:2098187)WARNING: Elf: 609: LLDP: argument failed!
2025-03-27T11:01:37.141Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu62:2098187)WARNING: Elf: 3284: Kernel based module load of i40en failed: Bad parameter <ElfParseModuleParams failed>

The above entries show us that the LLDP argument failed, leading to a subsequent failure of the loading of the module for the driver 140en.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 Update 3b

Driver Version: i40en 2.8.4.0

Cause

On the most recent versions of network driver i40en there are additional parameters that allow you to allow or disallow the flow of LLDP frames to the network stack.

Resolution

Disable and reenable LLDP flow with the following commands:

• For 2-port NICs:
  To Disable LLDP: esxcli system module parameters set -m i40en -p LLDP=0,0
  To Enable LLDP: esxcli system module parameters set -m i40en -p LLDP=1,1
• For 4-port NICs:
  To Disable LLDP: esxcli system module parameters set -m i40en -p LLDP=0,0,0,0
  To Enable LLDP: esxcli system module parameters set -m i40en -p LLDP=1,1,1,1

Additional Information

Note:

When the LLDP agent is enabled in firmware, the ESXi OS will not receive LLDP frames and Link Layer Discovery Protocol information will not be available on the physical adapter inside ESXi.

Refer to the article below for more relevant information.

Unable to see LLDP information on ESXi hosts using Intel X710 (or any Intel 700 series) adapters with the i40en device driver