FCoE based Storage Adapter Status - Flapping Offline and Online

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Fiber Channel over Ethernet HBAs using FCoE Initialization Protocol (aka FIP), appear to go offline at random, and may revert back to an online state.

Rebooting the host also clears an offline status back to an online once the host returns.

 

Environment

vSphere 8.x

vSphere 9.x

Cause

Root cause is determined by external factors with the network for these situations. 

You will see messages such as these to confirm, in vmkernel.log:

2025-10-29T11:30:46.904Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu11:2098408)ql_fcoe:vmhba#:SendFCoEDiscoverySolicitation:1199:Info: Sending FIP discovery for vlan_id = 0x####
2025-10-29T11:30:46.915Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu77:2098407)WARNING: ql_fcoe:vmhba4:FipVlanTimeoutWork:254: FIP VLAN Max Retries reached, cur vlan and pri: ####

And may see these messages associated with NSX:

2025-10-29T11:30:45.607Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu27:2098531)WARNING: vdl2: VDL2IFMVMKGatewayMACResolveCB:4737: [nsx@6876 comp="#####" subcomp="#####"]Failed to refresh gateway MAC, vmknic [vmk##] : Status pending

Further, this can impact storage by causing No Connects:

2025-10-29T11:30:49.668Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu26:2097840)WARNING: VMW_SATP_ALUA: satp_alua_getTargetPortInfo:190: Could not get page 83 INQUIRY data for path "vmhba#:C0:T1:L##" - No connection (195887168)

Causes can range from:

• You’re not actually using FCoE on this link
• Wrong VLAN / not trunked / blocked frames
• No FCF advertising FIP on that VLAN
• DCB/DCBX or priority config mismatch

Resolution

Please work with your Networking team and/or Networking Vendor to review the networking switches and associated networking components to determine the cause, particularly focusing on VLAN setup and configuration.