Verifying the integrity of the physical network adapter on an ESX/ESXi host
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Verifying the integrity of the physical network adapter on an ESX/ESXi host

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Article ID: 310346

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • Network adapter is not functional or not functioning properly.
  • ESXi or ESX does not recognize the network adapter.
  • ESXi or ESX stops responding during the boot process at the line:

    loading vmkernel module TG3-0

cannot-access-esx cannot-access-vm cannot-manage-vm connect-esx connect-vm esx manage-esx physical-network-adapter physical-nic-adapter-hardware

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable

Resolution

As part of troubleshooting networking issues related to the physical network adapter, it is necessary to attempt to rule out a hardware problem. The following steps assume that the network adapter is not seen within the vSphere Client.
To rule out if the issue is caused by a hardware problem:

  1. Log in to the service console as root and run this command to determine if the network adapter is seen by the ESX host:

    For ESX:

    # vmkvsitools lspci -p
    Seg:Bus:Sl.F Vend:Dvid Subv:Subd ISA/irq/Vec P M Module Name
    ------
    000:002:00.0 14e4:1639 103c:7055 7/ 7/0x88 A V bnx2 vmnic0
    000:002:00.1 14e4:1639 103c:7055 11/ 11/0xb0 B V bnx2 vmnic1
    000:003:00.0 14e4:1639 103c:7055 5/ 5/0xc0 A V bnx2 vmnic2
    000:003:00.1 14e4:1639 103c:7055 10/ 10/0xc8 B V bnx2 vmnic3
    000:010:00.0 8086:105e 103c:7044 7/ 7/0x9a A V e1000e vmnic4
    000:010:00.1 8086:105e 103c:7044 11/ 11/0xa2 B V e1000e vmnic5
    ------

    For ESXi:

    Note: Log in to the ESXi host using Tech Support Mode to run this command. For more information, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677) for 3.5.x and 4.0. For 4.1 and above, see Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0 (1017910).

    #lspci -p
    Seg:Bus:Sl.F Vend:Dvid Subv:Subd ISA/irq/Vec P M Module Name
    ------
    000:002:00.0 14e4:1639 103c:7055 7/ 7/0x88 A V bnx2 vmnic0
    000:002:00.1 14e4:1639 103c:7055 11/ 11/0xb0 B V bnx2 vmnic1
    000:003:00.0 14e4:1639 103c:7055 5/ 5/0xc0 A V bnx2 vmnic2
    000:003:00.1 14e4:1639 103c:7055 10/ 10/0xc8 B V bnx2 vmnic3
    000:010:00.0 8086:105e 103c:7044 7/ 7/0x9a A V e1000e vmnic4
    000:010:00.1 8086:105e 103c:7044 11/ 11/0xa2 B V e1000e vmnic5
    -------

    In this example, there are four physical Broadcom NICs and two Intel NIC recognized by the host. Under the Module column, it shows the name of the driver that has been loaded for each card. Under the Name column, it specifies the vmnic that has been assigned to each card. If there is no driver or vmnic designation associated with a network adapter, the host detects the card in the slot, but does not recognize the brand/model.

  2. If the lines do not exist at all for the card that has been added to the server, then steps need to be taken to rule out faulty hardware.

    To rule out faulty hardware:

    1. If it is an add-in network adapter, reseat it or move it to an alternate PCI slot on the server’s motherboard.
    2. Try an alternate network card.
    3. Update the BIOS of the server to the latest version recommended by the manufacturer.
    4. Run hardware diagnostics to identify any potential hardware issues.


Additional Information

Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x, and ESXi 6.x
ESX/ESXi ホスト上の物理ネットワーク アダプタの整合性の確認
验证 ESX/ESXi 主机上物理网络适配器的完整性

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