vMotion hangs at 20% due to incrementing "rx_fcs_err_frames" on destination ESXi host

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

 

• vMotion tasks from any source host to a specific destination ESXi host hang at 20% and fail to progress.

• Source host vmkernel logs show the following connectivity errors:

  • WARNING: VMotionServer: 367: Invalid message type for new connection: 542393671. Expecting message of type INIT (0 or 31).

  • VMotionServer: 385: Error reading from pending connection: Failure

• Destination host network statistics show incrementing rx_fcs_err_frames on the physical NIC (e.g., vmnic0). The below command can be used to verify:

    localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int networkinternal nic privstats get -n vmnic# | grep rx_fcs_err_frames
  

 

Environment

VMware ESXi 

 

Cause

Physical layer connectivity issues on the destination host's NIC or cabling resulting in Frame Check Sequence (FCS) errors.

Resolution

 

• Identify the physical NIC (e.g., vmnic0) reporting the rx_fcs_err_frames on the destination host.

• Perform physical layer troubleshooting:

  • Reseat the network cable and SFP/transceiver.

  • Reseat the physical NIC card in the PCIe slot.

• Monitor the rx_fcs_err_frames counter to ensure it stops incrementing.

    localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int networkinternal nic privstats get -n vmnic2 | grep rx_fcs_err_frames
  

• Attempt the vMotion task again.