TCP/IP stack corruption on Guest OS causing loss of network to the virtual machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• The virtual machine is network-isolated and unreachable via the network.
• The virtual Machine's web console is active, permitting successful login to the Guest OS.
• The virtual machine can not reach peer VM's within same subnet running on the same ESXi host.
• On the Guest OS NIC status shows warning message "Unidentified network" or "No internet access".
• A command-line ping from the Guest OS to the default gateway IP address is failing/unsuccessful.
  
  

• Packet capture on the virtual machine's port group on ESXi host confirms a complete absence of egress network traffic originating from the Guest OS.
• Refer the pktcap-uw tool to identify the switch port to perform packet captures on ESXi host.

• Above packet capture confirms there are no packets being received at VM switchport.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

The fault condition is attributable to TCP/IP stack corruption affecting one or more vNIC's within the Guest Operating System.

Resolution

• Contact guest OS vendor to fix the issue.

Workaround:

• Collect the virtual machine network configuration information.
  • IP Address
  • Subnet mask
  • Gateway
  • DNS IPs.
• Delete the existing vNIC adapter for the problematic VM through vCenter console and create new vNIC.
  • Configure network from guest OS by assigning IP address to the newly created vNIC.
• Test the connectivity of the virtual machine.

Additional Information

If the resolution or workaround does not resolve the issue, open a Networking Support Case with Broadcom Support using the instructions at Creating and managing Broadcom support cases to determine the best course of action.