Virtual machines randomly lose connectivity in environments with Enhanced Data Path enabled
Article ID: 453295
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
In environments where the Enhanced Data Path (Enhanced Networking Stack or ENS) mode is enabled, virtual machines connected to ESXi host switches may experience network traffic latency or randomly lose connectivity.
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
Cause
This issue occurs due to a defect in the Enhanced Data Path networking stack. Improper handling of large TCP segmentation offload (TSO) packets triggers a memory leak, which ultimately causes the affected virtual machines to experience network latency and intermittent loss of connectivity.
Resolution
To resolve this issue, update the ESXi host to the following versions or later:
For ESXi 8.0: Update to VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 Update 2b or later.
For ESXi 7.0: Update to VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 Update 3q or later.
Additional Information
For more details, review the relevant release notes:
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