ESXi host unable to detect more than 16 vmnics after 8U3 upgrade

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESX 8.x

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading to VMware vSphere ESXi, the ESXi host is unable to detect more than 16 vmnics.

The vmkernel logs display the following nmlx5_core initialization failures:

<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.0: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure
<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.1: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure
<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.0: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure
<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.1: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure
<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.0: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure
<NMLX_ERR> nmlx5_core: 0000:d9:00.1: nmlx5_core_PfAttach - (nmlx5_core_main.c:3051) done  status: Failure



0000:d9:00.0 & 0000:d9:00.1 in the above log snippets indicate the PCI slot of the card.

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 U3

 

Cause

The ESXi host has hit the supported maximums with respect to the number of 10Gb NICs. The supported configuration maximum is 16 vmnics for 10Gb adapters.

Resolution

 

1. Validate the current number of 10Gb NICs installed or presented to the ESXi host.

2. Reduce the number of 10Gb NICs to 16 or fewer to comply with the supported configuration maximums.

 

Additional Information

VMware Configuration Maximums