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NIC team failover, failback, or vMotion results in loss of network connectivity

Symptoms

  • When utilizing a NIC team configuration and one of the network adapters in the team fails, network connectivity is lost for all portgroups on the virtual switch on failover or failback.
  • Loss of network connectivity on a virtual machine after vMotion to another ESX/ESXi host.

Resolution

When a network adapter or link within a NIC team fails, all traffic is rerouted over the available adapter in the team (in an Active/Standby configuration, the Standby adapter takes over for the failed Active adapter). After a vMotion of a virtual machine, its network traffic is directed over one of the destination's network adapters. If this does not occur and network connectivity is lost after either of these events, perform these troubleshooting steps.
 
Validate that each troubleshooting step below is true for your environment. Each step provides instructions or a link to a document, in order to eliminate possible causes and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Please do not skip a step.
 
  1. Verify that the physical network adapters are supported. For more information, see ESX/ESXi host network adapter compatibility (1003685).
  2. Verify that all network links in the team are up. For more information, see Verifying a network link (1003724).
  3. Verify that the physical switch ports are configured consistently among all network adapters in the team.
  4. Verify that port security is not configured on the physical switch ports. For more information, see Loss of network connectivity when port security is configured on the physical switch (1002811).
  5. Verify that portfast (or equivalent) is enabled on all of the ESX host's physical switch ports. For more information, see STP may cause temporary loss of network connectivity when a failover or failback event occurs (1003804).
  6. If connecting the NIC team adapters to separate physical switches, apply the following patches:

  7. Verify the integrity of the physical network adapter. For more information, see Verifying the integrity of the physical network adapter (1003686).
  8. Verify that the network configuration on the ESX host is optimized for the best performance, including speed and duplex settings. For more information, see Configuring the speed and duplex of an ESX/ESXi host network adapter (1004089).
  9. Check if there are available ports on the vSwitch by running the command # esxcfg-vswitch -l.For more information, see No network connectivity if all ports are in use (1009103).
Note: If your problem still exists after trying the steps in this article:

Tags

faulty-nic-adapter faulty-switch incompatible-network-adapter manage-esx managing-vm network-connection network-hardware network-loss network-packet-drop nic-team-failback nic-team-failover switch-port-security

See Also

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