Cannot connect to storage across multiple vSphere Clusters
Article ID: 431386
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
Symptoms:
- vCenter event logs shown
Path redundancy to storage device naa.######################84a1d degraded. Path vmhba1:C#:T#:L# is down. Affected datastores: VMFS-Datastore.
- RSCN (State Change Notification) indicates the change in fabric in
# localcli san fc event list
2026-02-20 04:39:00.306 [vmhba1] RSCN received for PID 31b0a82026-02-20 04:39:00.306 [vmhba1] RSCN received for PID 31b0a7
- Host experienced the device loss in
/var/run/log/vmkernel.log
2026-02-20T04:39:00.309Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu59:2098121)WARNING: lpfc: lpfc_start_devloss:4565: vmhba1 3248 Start 10 sec devloss tmo WWPN 20:f#:d#:3#:ea:5#:8#:a# NPort x31b0ab2026-02-20T04:39:00.329Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu59:2098121)WARNING: lpfc: lpfc_start_devloss:4565: vmhba1 3248 Start 10 sec devloss tmo WWPN 20:f#:d#:3#:ea:5#:8#:a# NPort x31b0aa2026-02-20T04:39:00.344Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu59:2098121)WARNING: lpfc: lpfc_start_devloss:4565: vmhba1 3248 Start 10 sec devloss tmo WWPN 20:f#:d#:3#:ea:5#:8#:a# NPort x31b165
- Host experienced the transient errors
2026-02-20T04:39:00.539Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu53:2098433)NMP: nmp_ThrottleLogForDevice:3898: H:0xc D:0x0 P:0x0 . Act:NONE. cmdId.initiator=0x430f25a12e80 CmdSN 0x3a02026-02-20T04:39:00.570Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu53:2098433)ScsiDeviceIO: 4633: Cmd(0x45da251b9700) 0x8a, CmdSN 0x3a0 from world 4494813 to dev "naa.######################84a1d" failed H:0xc D:0x0 P:0x02026-02-20T04:39:00.574Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu53:2098433)ScsiDeviceIO: 4633: Cmd(0x45da250ff100) 0x8a, CmdSN 0x3a0 from world 4494813 to dev "naa.######################84a1d" failed H:0xc D:0x0 P:0x0
- PRLI failed
2026-02-20T04:48:42.118Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu60:2098121)lpfc: lpfc_cmpl_els_prli:2431: vmhba1 0103 PRLI completes to NPort x310043 Data: x3 x103 x14 x02026-02-20T04:48:42.118Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu60:2098121)lpfc: lpfc_els_retry:4864: vmhba1 0108 No retry ELS command x14001020 to remote NPORT x310043 Retried:1 Error:x3/x1032026-02-20T04:48:42.118Z Wa(180) vmkwarning: cpu60:2098121)WARNING: lpfc: lpfc_cmpl_els_prli:2451: vmhba1 2754 PRLI failure DID:310043 Status:x3/x1032026-02-20T04:48:42.118Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu60:2098121)lpfc: lpfc_cmpl_els_prli:2431: vmhba1 0103 PRLI completes to NPort x310023 Data: x3 x103 x14 x0
Environment
vSphere ESXi 8.0
vSphere ESX 9.0
Cause
The switch issued frequent RSCNs during the incident, VMHBA experienced frequent link fluctuations . This instability triggered multiple 'Path Redundancy Lost', ultimately resulting in datastore connectivity issues on the host.
- Fluctuating Link for vmhba1 alone
# localcli san fc event list
2026-02-20 04:39:27.791 [vmhba1] LINK DOWN2026-02-20 04:39:29.062 [vmhba1] LINK UP[cont..]2026-02-20 04:50:37.800 [vmhba1] LINK DOWN2026-02-20 04:59:50.930 [vmhba1] LINK UP
Resolution
Since the cause of this issue is external to the ESXi hosts. This must be investigated at the SAN switch level to identify any fabric-side disruptions.
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