Troubleshooting vSAN Cluster Partition and VM Inaccessibility vSphere

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

This article addresses vSAN cluster partitions and virtual machine inaccessibility resulting from configuration drift, driver instability, and time synchronization failures. Follow these steps to diagnose and remediate common cluster stability issues in vSphere and vSAN environments.

• ESXi hosts report as "Not Responding" or "Disconnected" in vCenter Server.
• vSAN cluster shows a partition or reduced sub-cluster member count.
• vmkping fails on the vSAN VMkernel interface (e.g., vmk3).
• Driver logs indicate "TX/RX Queue Hangs" or "hang detected" on bnxtnet drivers.
• vSphere HA metadata heartbeat failure observed due to time synchronization drift.

Environment

• VMware vSphere 8.x
• VMware vSAN 8.x
• Broadcom NetXtreme-E Network Controllers (e.g., BCM57414)

Cause

• VLAN mismatch between the vDS port group (untagged) and physical switch (tagged VLAN).
• Incompatibility between current bnxtnet async drivers and NIC firmware versions.
• NTP service configured as "None" or using invalid time sources, leading to HA heartbeat failure.

Resolution

1. Verify and Correct VLAN Configuration: a. Run esxcli vsan network list to confirm current VMkernel VLAN settings. b. Ensure the physical switch port is configured as a trunk port for the required VLAN. c. Explicitly tag the required VLAN on the vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) port group. d. Perform vmkping -I vmk#### ####.####.####.#### to verify network connectivity between hosts.

2. Remediate Driver and Firmware Instability: a. Run esxcli software vib list | grep bnxtnet to identify the currently installed driver version. b. Compare the driver and firmware against the official Broadcom Compatibility Guide. c. Upgrade the bnxtnet driver and NIC firmware to the verified compatible versions.

3. Synchronize Time via NTP: a. Run esxcli system ntp get to verify the current time synchronization status. b. Configure valid, reachable NTP servers for all ESXi hosts in the cluster. c. Run esxcli system ntp set -e true to enable the service.

4. Verify Cluster Health: a. Run esxcli vsan health cluster list to confirm cluster health. b. Validate the environment via Skyline Health to ensure stability.

Additional Information

• For driver and firmware downloads, see Download Broadcom Products and Software.
• If the issue persists, collect logs for analysis. For instructions on how to retrieve logs, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products.
• To speak with a customer representative or a Support Engineer see Contact Support. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your respective region.
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