Intel NIC occasionally experiences link down issues after upgrading ixgben driver to version 1.19.3.0 or 1.20.2.0

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After upgrading Intel’s ixgben async driver to version 1.19.3.0 or 1.20.2.0, the Intel NIC occasionally experiences link down issues.
• The physical network has remained unchanged.
• This may be seen primarily or solely as occurring in conjunction with VM vMotions.
• Similar messages to the below will likely be seen:
  "Lost uplink redundancy on virtual switch <vSwitch_name>. Physical NIC <vmnic_ID> is down. Affected portgroups: <list_of_portgroups>".
• The following error messages have been recorded in the ESXi /var/run/log/vobd.log logs:
  
  vobd[2098148]:  [netCorrelator] 41456737us: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.down] vmnic vmnicX linkstate down


• The following error messages have been recorded in the ESXi /var/run/log/vmkernel.log logs:
  
  vmkwarning: cpu10:2098162)WARNING: ixgben: ixgben_CheckTxHang:2181: 0000:18:00.0: TX hang detected on TX queue
vmkernel: cpu10:2098162)ixgben: ixgben_ServiceTimer:3609: 0000:18:00.0: TX hang detected: reset device
vmkernel: cpu2:2098164)ixgben: ixgben_CheckLink:405: 0000:18:00.0: Link is down for device

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Resolution

Upgrade to driver verion ixgben-1.22.1.0.
Engage the hardware vendor of Intel network adapter for this issue if it persists.