vmnic status is up even though the fiber is unplugged or manually bring down using esxcli command

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Newly installed ESXi, version is 7.0.2 build-17630552.
• vmnic information:

  vmnic   PCI bus address  link  speed  duplex  MTU   driver  driver version  firmware version            MAC address        VID   DID   SVID  SDID  name
  -----   ---------------  ----  -----  ------  ---   ------  --------------  ----------------            -----------        ---   ---   ----  ----  -----------------------------------
  vmnic0  0000:xx:00.0     Up    10000  Full    1500  ixgben  1.18.2.0        0x800006db, 1.3429.0        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  8086  10fb  ffff  ffff  Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
  vmnic1  0000:xx:00.1     Down  0      Half    1500  ixgben  1.18.2.0        0x800006db, 1.3429.0        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  8086  10fb  ffff  ffff  Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
  vmnic2  0000:xx:00.0     Up    10000  Full    1500  ixgben  1.18.2.0        0x800006db, 1.3429.0        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  8086  10fb  ffff  ffff  Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
  vmnic3  0000:xx:00.1     Down  0      Half    1500  ixgben  1.18.2.0        0x800006db, 1.3429.0        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  8086  10fb  ffff  ffff  Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection

• Unplug fiber, or use command 'esxcli network nic down -n vmnicX' to bring down vmnicX, vmnicX status keeps "Up".
• vobd.log:

[netCorrelator]: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.up] vmnic vmnic2 linkstate up
[netCorrelator]: [vob.net.vmnic.linkstate.up] vmnic vmnic2 linkstate up

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Resolution

Replace vmnic OEM driver with inbox driver 1.7.1.35-1vmw fixed this issue.

Additional Information

Please check the compatibility through  https://compatibilityguide.broadcom.com before replace vmnic driver.