ESXi 8.0 displays fnic_virt_reset_abort and FCPIO_ABORTED alerts

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading an ESXi host to version 8.0 administrators may observe the following symptoms on Cisco UCS B-Series or C-Series blades:

1. Intermittent storage connectivity alerts or path redundancy alarms.
   
   
2. Virtual machines (VMs) becoming unresponsive or experiencing high I/O latency.
   
   
3. The following error messages are observed in /var/log/vmkernel.log
   
   2026-04-16T15:49:48.476Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu101:2098417)nfnic: <3>: INFO: fnic_fcpio_itmf_cmpl_handler: 2501: io_req: 0x45daa540ca50 sc: 0x45dac8045740 id: 0xfa CMD_FLAGS: 0x373 CMD_STATE: FNIC_IOREQ_ABTS_PENDINGhdr status: FCPIO_ABORTED ABTS cmpl received
   
   2026-04-16T15:49:49.477Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu101:2099014)nfnic: <3>: INFO: fnic_fcpio_itmf_cmpl_handler: 2451: fcpio hdr status: FCPIO_ABORTED
   
   2026-04-16T15:49:49.477Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu101:2099014)nfnic: <3>: INFO: fnic_fcpio_itmf_cmpl_handler: 2501: io_req: 0x45daa540da40 sc: 0x45dac804f340 id: 0xeb CMD_FLAGS: 0x373 CMD_STATE: FNIC_IOREQ_ABTS_PENDINGhdr status: FCPIO_ABORTED ABTS cmpl received
   
   

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

Incompatibility between the NFNIC driver (e.g., version 5.0.0.50) and Cisco UCS blade firmware following an ESXi 8.0 upgrade.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, ensure that the Cisco UCS Blade firmware is correctly synchronized with the NFNIC driver version recommended for your ESXi build.

1. Verify Firmware and Driver Versions:

   • Check the current NFNIC driver version (e.g., 5.0.0.50).
     
     
   • Check the current Cisco UCS Blade firmware version.
     
     
   • Consult the VMware Compatibility Guide and Cisco UCS Hardware and Software Compatibility Matrix to confirm the supported firmware/driver combination for your specific ESXi version.

2. Re-push/Update Blade Firmware:

   • If a mismatch is identified, use the Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM) or Cisco Intersight to re-push the correct firmware profile to the affected blades.
     
     
   • Monitor the boot process to ensure the firmware update completes successfully.

3. Validation:

   • Once the firmware is updated, reboot the host and verify that the fnic_virt_reset_abort alerts have ceased in the logs.

4. Work with Vendor:

   • If firmware updates do not resolve the alerts or fail to apply, please engage the Cisco Vendor Team to investigate the UCS infrastructure and ensure the firmware policies are correctly configured and applied at the hardware level.