VM MAC address removal and re-apply events observed in ESX vmkernel logs

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Below log lines indicating on MAC address removal and reapplication are seen in vmkernel logs
  Var/log/vmkernel.log
  

  vmkernel: cpu61:2097581)[qedentv_multictx_remove_rx_rule:1754(vmnic1)]Removing mac:##:##:##:##:##:##, vlan_id:0x0, from fp:0, op:MAC_DEL, hw_fn:0
  vmkernel: cpu61:2097581)[qedentv_multictx_set_rx_rule:1349(vmnic1)]Applying ##:##:##:##:##:## filter, vlan_id:0xffff, fp_id:1, hw_fn:0.

 

Environment

VMware ESXi

Resolution

Above log lines basically indicate on driver moving the MAC filter from default queue to netqueue and not removing the actual VNIC MAC address.

The filters by default all are in the default rxq0 and only when the matched(mac) RX flow is detected, the filter is moved to one of the netqueues, managed by netqueueLB. When the traffic stops, the filter will be moved back to the default rxq.

Refer below document to know more about netqueue configuration:

NetQueue and Networking Performance