vmk0 and vmk1 missing from the ESXi host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• ESXi host is configured with N-VDS switch and it was moved to datacenter level for maintenance.
• Management kernel (VMK0) and vMotion kernel (VMK1) uses
• After the cluster completed N-VDS to C-VDS migration, host was moved back to cluster.
• The output of nsxdp-cli vswitch instance list shows that both vmk0 and vmk1 are still active and linked to nvds_overlay.
• However, running esxcfg-vmknic -l does not return any entry for vmk0 or vmk1.
• Reviewing the host switch properties, the nvds_overlay is marked as disabled (com.vmware.vswitch.disabled = true), yet still shows active links.
• ESXi host /var/log/nsxavim.log entries confirm that attempts were made to disable and delete this switch, but were unsuccessful due to ports still being link-up.
  

  nsxaVim: [2103354]: INFO Port [spfPortd##########] does not have networkId. Skip port deletion/block^@
nsxaVim: [2103354]: INFO Port [6a183086-####-####-####-#########] does not have networkId. Skip port deletion/block^@
nsxaVim: [2103354]: INFO Port [8f5413c0-####-####-####-#########] does not have networkId. Skip port deletion/block^@

  nsxaVim: [2103354]: ERROR Dvs [d5 0b 99 ## ## ## ## ##-## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##] cannot be deleted; dvport e78d21d4-####-####-####-######### with externalId [35c5e3c5-####-####-####-#########] is link up; dvport 26cc7bd4-####-####-####-######### with externalId [12f841af-####-####-####-#########] is link up
nsxaVim: [2103354]: INFO Add com.vmware.vswitch.disabled for dvs [d5 0b 99 be ## ## ## ## ##-## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##]^@

Environment

VMware NSX 

Cause

The issue was caused by an incomplete migration of VMkernel adapters (vmk0 and vmk1) from the legacy N-VDS (nvds_overlay) to the new VDS.

Although the new switch was introduced, the VMkernel adapters remained bound to the old N-VDS, which was not fully decommissioned. This left the nvds_overlay switch in a disabled yet partially active state, preventing full cleanup and causing configuration inconsistencies on the host

Resolution

• Recreate the VMkernel adapters (vmk0 and vmk1) supported procedures.
• After recreation, verify the configuration using:
  esxcfg-vmknic -l  

Additional Information

Configuring Standard vSwitch (vSS) or virtual Distributed Switch (vDS) from the command line in ESXi