Excessive vDS related port errors seen in hostd.log of an ESXi Host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Excessive vDS related port errors seen in hostd.log of an ESXi Host generating excessive debug logs:

less hostd.log | grep -i "Failed to update port persistence location" | wc -l
660

• Apart from above errors, in hostd.log, "file not accessible" warnings seen ("skip saving dvport" is not important by itself):

warning hostd[2100489] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc.NetworkProvider opID=########-#### user=vpxuser] Skip saving dvport ######### to /vmfs/volumes/#####-########-####-##########/.dvsData/## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##-## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##/<port_ID>: file not accessible

• Upon reviewing in vCenter > Networking > vDS > Summary, you see the warning: 

"The vSphere Distributed Switch configuration on some hosts differed from that of the vCenter Server."

Environment

VMware ESXi

Cause

• Although Distributed Switches are a component within vCenter Server, most of the switch's underlying functionality is handled at the ESXi host level. As such, relevant vDS configuration information is stored locally on the host as a proxy copy and is periodically synchronized with vCenter Server.
• If network connectivity is interrupted between the vCenter Server and one or more hosts, a synchronization interval may be missed resulting in some hosts becoming out of sync. This type of interruption can occur during vCenter Service restarts, vCenter Server reboots, after an upgrade, as well as ESXi host reboots or network maintenance.
• This message can also occur if the host is taken out of a vCenter Server while still attached to a vDS, then brought in to a new vCenter Server. Even if the vDS on the new vCenter Server is the same or similar to the vDS on the previous vCenter, the new vCenter Server will not recognize the host's proxy copy of the vDS.

Resolution

Please refer to the following KBs for possible workarounds:

ESXi hosts out of sync on a vDS after migration/upgrade

The vSphere Distributed Switch configuration on some hosts differed from that of VMware vCenter- "Out of Sync"

ESXi hosts showing out of sync with distributed switch