HW Reset on vmnic

[huchord]

Seeing the following lines in vmkernel.log

Line 4495: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.006Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3APESendEvent:243:APE event 0x10000 sent

Line 4495: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.006Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3APESendEvent:243:APE event 0x10000 sent

Line 4496: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.006Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3HwReset:607:Starting HW Reset

Line 4496: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.006Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3HwReset:607:Starting HW Reset

Line 4497: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.130Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3HwReset:636:HW Reset Completed

Line 4497: 2020-03-25T19:40:48.130Z cpu11:2097843)ntg3:0000:02:00.1:Ntg3HwReset:636:HW Reset Completed

Vmware forum/blog page says to change the driver for the broadcom from ntg3 to tg3.

However, this is 6.7u3 and there's no tg3 driver for anything after 6.5.

Looking for some ideas as to how to proceed.

[huchord]

More info:

Name    PCI Device    Driver   Admin Status  Link Status  Speed  Duplex  MAC Address        MTU   Description

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

vmnic0  0000:02:00.0  ntg3     Up            Up            1000  Full    08:f1:ea:98:c8:c2  1500  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet

vmnic1  0000:02:00.1  ntg3     Up            Up            1000  Full    08:f1:ea:98:c8:c3  1500  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet

vmnic2  0000:02:00.2  ntg3     Up            Up            1000  Full    08:f1:ea:98:c8:c4  1500  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet

vmnic3  0000:02:00.3  ntg3     Up            Up            1000  Full    08:f1:ea:98:c8:c5  1500  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5719 Gigabit Ethernet

vmnic4  0000:13:00.0  bnxtnet  Up            Up           10000  Full    f4:03:43:ca:8d:c0  1500  Broadcom BCM57416 NetXtreme-E 10GBASE-T RDMA Ethernet Controller

vmnic5  0000:13:00.1  bnxtnet  Up            Up           10000  Full    f4:03:43:ca:8d:c8  1500  Broadcom BCM57416 NetXtreme-E 10GBASE-T RDMA Ethernet Controller

NIC:  vmnic0

NICInfo:

   Advertised Auto Negotiation: true

   Advertised Link Modes: Auto, 1000BaseT/Full, 100BaseT/Half, 100BaseT/Full, 10BaseT/Half, 10BaseT/Full

   Auto Negotiation: true

   Cable Type: Twisted Pair

   Current Message Level: 7

   Driver Info:

      NICDriverInfo:

         Bus Info: 0000:02:00:0

        Driver: ntg3

         Firmware Version: bc 1.46 ncsi 1.5.1.0

         Version: 4.1.3.2

   Link Detected: true

[Nawals]

Hi,

If you want to disable ntg3 and enable old tg3 driver, follow below steps to load the tg3 driver , disable ntg3 driver and enable old tg3

vmkload_mod tg3

esxcfg-module -d ntg3

esxcfg-module -e tg3

Reboot the host

[huchord]

Just not sure if the 6.5 tg3 driver will work with esxi 6.7.  I.e. is it safe?

[Nawals]

tg3 is old driver it will work with 6.7 as I just tested in my lab. If you face issue you can revert back. I believe your issue is taking long time to come up host after reboot right?

[vFouad · Accepted solution]

Following a VMware SR this issue was solved.

The issue appears to be an external firewall selectively blocking port UDP 902 communication.

Thanks everyone who has shared input.

Fouad