Linkstate inconsistency of vmnics that are directly connected to each other

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

With two hosts that are directly connected to each other (not connected to a switch), a scenario might occur where the driver of the vmnic on host "A" reports the linkstate down to ESXi on that host, but the actual/physical linkstate remains up.

This inconsistency results in host "B" seeing the link as up, which prevents failover to another vmnic, as ESXi does not have a mechanism to make one host "aware" of the "logical down" linkstate on another host.

Cause

The linkstate is controlled by the driver, not ESXi.

Resolution

Contact your hardware vendor for assistance.

Additional Information

See: Network Failure Detection Policy and Link state up or down for a vmnic interface on ESXi for additional details.