Storage adapter (vmhba) HBA card is showing as "offline" on ESXi Host.
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Storage adapter (vmhba) HBA card is showing as "offline" on ESXi Host.

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Article ID: 375567

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

  • From VC, multiple storage adapters or HBA cards are showing as Status Offline, as vmhba# in the example below:

  • Or even a newly installed HBA card on ESXi host is showing on vCenter.
  • One or more ESXi hosts are impacted.
  • A power outage or any recent changes in the fabric layer may have been performed recently.
  • The vmhbas may be online, but certain paths are offline or not seen. 
  • Check the driver and firmware versions installed for the impacted adapter and if they are supported with the ESXi version installed in the host.
  • Storage device may undergo an "All paths down ( APD)" situation.

For reference on how to check the versions, please refer to Determining Network/Storage firmware and driver version in ESXi.

  • A storage rescan was performed, but it didn't change the status of the adapter.
  • The vmhba was reset from the ESXi with the command below, but the issue persists.
    • For FC:

      # esxcli storage san fc reset -A vmhba#
       
    • For FCoE:

      # esxcli storage san fcoe reset -A vmhba#

 

  • From the var/run/log/vmkernel.log, the following events may be seen:

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] cpu49:2098184)WARNING: iodm: vmk_IodmEvent:194: vmhba6: FRAME DROP event has been observed 17 times in the last one minute. This suggests a problem with Fibre Channel link/switch!.

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] cpu51:2097288)ScsiDeviceIO: 4115: Cmd(0x45d993b3e748) 0x28, CmdSN 0x80000073 from world 3794523 to dev "naa.##########################" failed H:0x2 D:0x0 P:0x0

  •  From /var/run/log/vmkernel.log or /var/run/log/vobd.log following "All paths down(APD)" events.

2025-08-14T06:11:09.215Z: [APDCorrelator] 26402855611314us: [esx.problem.storage.apd.start] Device or filesystem with identifier [naa.##########################] has entered the All Paths Down state.

A host reboot was also performed, but it didn't resolve the issue.

The Difference between VMHBA showing Offline and Down :

  • The storage adapter (vmhba) shows Offline or Down, typically relates to the layer at which the failure is occurring: the logical/driver layer versus the physical/link layer.

VMHBA Status: Offline

When an adapter is marked as Offline, it typically means that the ESXi kernel recognizes the device but it is not currently participating in I/O operations.

[The driver is loaded, and the hardware is present, but the adapter is "Online" but functionally disconnected from the fabric or target.]

VMHBA Status: Down (or Link-Down)

The VMHBA status "Down" is a physical state of the adapter. This indicates there is no physical signal or "light" detected on the port.

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

FRAME DROP events suggest a possible connectivity issue or congestion. An erroneous FC Port can also lead to this issue.

  • If the error "failed H:0x2 D:0x0 P:0x0" is seen, please refer to the below:

Host Status [H:0x2] :- This status is returned when the HBA driver is unable to issue a command to the device. This status occurs due to dropped FCP frames in the environment.

For [H:0x2] refer article: Understanding SCSI host-side NMP errors/conditions in ESXi

Resolution

Get the physical adapter checked and engage your fabric vendor to investigate and mitigate the issue.

Once the problem in the fabric layer is mitigated, the impacted hosts may need a reboot to refresh the information on the adapters.

If the adapter(s) and the fabric layer are validated as healthy by their vendors and the issue still persists, please open a ticket with VMware by Broadcom Technical Support.

Additional Information

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