vmnic link state changes up and down repeatedly.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Unexpected link state changes may be reported by ESXi / vCenter for physical uplinks (vmnics) associated with ESXi host.

Output of the vobd.log shows like below.

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.368Z: [netCorrelator] 6817742249549us: [vob.net.pg.uplink.transition.down] Uplink: vmnicX is down. Affected portgroup: ####. 1 uplinks up. Failed criteria: 128
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.475Z: [netCorrelator] 6817742356475us: [vob.net.pg.uplink.transition.up] Uplink:vmnicX is up. Affected portgroup: ####. 2 uplinks up

Output of vmkernel.log shows like below.

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.367Z cpu0:2097726)ixgben: ixgben_CheckLink:2948: Link is down for device vmnicX (0x430e0ec01240)
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.372Z cpu0:2097726)ixgben: ixgben_CheckLink:2948: Link is up for device vmnicX (0x430e0ec01240)

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

Failed criteria 128 shows that Link state reported by the driver as vmkernel.log.

Please see Network adapter(vmnic) is down or fails with a Failed Criteria Code

Resolution

Please contact Hardware vendor.