LLDP information for uplinks connected to DVS is not visible in vCenter UI.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• In the vCenter UI, the LLDP information for uplinks is not visible under 'Physical adapters' tab as shown below:
  
  
  
  
• However, the VDS is configured with 'Both' operation for LLDP:
  
  

Environment

VMware ESXi

Cause

• In the packet captures performed on affected uplinks, it is observed that LLDP packets are leaving the host, but no LLDP packets are being received:
  pktcap-uw --uplink vmnicX --dir 2 --ethtype 0x88cc -o -| tcpdump-uw -enr -
  
  
• This indicates that the ESXi host is able to forward the LLDP information, but LLDP config is not enabled on the physical network.

Resolution

This behavior is expected; the ESXi host cannot populate LLDP information if it is not receiving LLDP packets from the physical infrastructure. Please engage the network administration team to verify the LLDP configuration on the upstream physical devices.

Additional Information

Refer following document for steps to enable LLDP on a DVS:https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/7-0/vsphere-networking-7-0/monitoring-network-packets/switch-discovery-protocol/enable-link-layer-discovery-protocol-on-a-vsphere-distributed-switch.html