"pkts receive error" and "Number of packets dropped due to pkt truncation" observed on vmxnet3 stats

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• You see the "packets dropped due to pkt truncation" counter increment and those counter mostly matches to "pkts receive error" on guest VM as shown below:

               

               

• Run the below command multiple times to view the counter increment

vsish -e get /net/portsets/<SwitchName>/ports/<PortNum>/vmxnet3/rxSummary | grep truncation

          Example:

 

 

• You may see  'Receive Missed Errors' on the vmnic teamed for the VM

                          

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi
VMware vCenter Server

Cause

This can occur due to truncated packets received by vmnic teamed for the VM

Resolution

Set "allowTruncation" for the impacted VM as steps below:

1. Power off the VM
2. Add  the following option "ethernet2.allowTruncation=1"  into the VMX file  of the VM. 
3. Power on the VM

Additional Information

"pkts receive error" observed on vmxnet3 stats
Large packet loss (dropped packets in VM) in the guest OS using VMXNET3 in ESXi