Troubleshooting Profinet Connectivity Issues on Industrial vSwitch(IVS)

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• Profinet devices, such as virtual Programmable Logic Controllers (vPLCs), cannot communicate with industrial network components.
• When you execute the command "nsxcli -c get ens prp node <node_ID> " on the affected host, it returns the error: 'Fail to get Node list'.
  Use the command "nsxcli -c get ens switch list " to locate the swID (node_ID) on the host.
• Packet analysis confirms traffic exits the ESXi host (e.g., via vmnic6) but fails to arrive at the destination.

Environment

VMware NSX
Industrial vSwitch (IvS)

Cause

The issue is caused by a physical network misconfiguration of the Profinet (PN) switch ports. Inconsistent configuration across the physical PN ports results in unstable or failed communication when traffic traverses incorrectly configured ports within the physical switch fabric.

Resolution

1. Verify the specific ESXi host where the nsxcli command is failing.
2. Perform simultaneous packet captures on the source and destination physical interfaces, filtering for Profinet EtherType 0x8892.
3. Confirm if traffic is leaving the VMware stack but failing to arrive at the destination physical interface.
4. Audit the configuration of the physical Profinet switch ports to ensure they are consistent across all ports used for the cluster.
5. Correct any mismatched port configurations on the physical switches.
   
   If the issue persists, open a new case with Broadcom support. see Contact Broadcom Support.