Windows Server 2012R2 VMXNet3 NIC causing PSOD

[mwiesauer]

We have had serious Problems with one of our VMWare ESXi 5.5. Hosts.

there are 3 VMs running. SBS2k8, Win2012R2 with Exchange 2013 and one Win2012R2 becoming the new Domain Controller. the 3 machines were fine for 3 weeks, but have not had much load - except the SBS Server. migrating Exchange also was fine. we do use PPTP VPN through an SBS Network Interface what will be disabled and done through the new 2012 Server. initially the 2012 Server had one NIC Interface - the E1000 what is the Default Setting, but has a bug of not allowing PPTP packets. therefore we added a 2nd NIC - VMNet3 and PPTP was fine. over night the hypervisor shut down, when the Exchange Server made it's backup. as soon as there is load on the Network the hypervisor crashes... i have not taken a Picture of the Screen yet, but it's the partial dump - out of space message.we did shut down the 2nd 2012 Server and things are fine again since 2 days... can someone confirm, this is an error with the Network Cards. on the existing 2012 Server running Exchange we did disable RSS.

any Help appreciated.

[EV_Simon]

Could really do with some more information on your physical hardware here rather than just the VM's running on it.

I have to admit that I run ESXi 5.5 with a host of Windows 2012R2 VM's without issue (admitedly my homelab rather than work where we still run 5.1 and 2008R2) but I would definitely be looking at physical hardware and making sure that not only are your physical drivers up to date but also any firmware (NIC etc) are patched as well.

[mwiesauer]

it's a DELL Power Edge 1950 - dual XEON 4C - 32GByte RAM and running fine for almost 2 years now. we upgraded to ESXi 5.5. about 2 months ago, haven't had a single issue or PSOD. it all started adding a VMNet3 Network Interface to the Windows 2012R2 Server. it crashed about 20 minutes later and then again 2 days later. always when backups or heavy Network load happens... i did shutdown the 2012 Server and things are fine now since 3 days. no more PSODs.

[ClintColding]

Are you using the Dell ESXi 5.5 image? It may have more up to date / specific drivers for your PE 1950 vs the basic image.

Driver Details | Dell US

[finnzi]

Hi,

There is a known bug of E1000 crashing 5.x hosts. Not sure if you are hitting this bug or not, but you could at least take a look.

However it seems that this bug occurs more on Win 2012 and Win 2012 R2 guests (at least this seems to occur shortly after some of my customers start to deploy Windows 2012 servers!;)

See this KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=205905...VMware KB: ESXi 5.x host experiences a purple diagnostic screen mentioning E1000PollRxRing and E1000...

Bgrds,

FOG

[mwiesauer]

Hi,

we did power down the 2nd Windows 2012 R2 Server.

currently the 2k8 Server and the 2012 R2 Server are running - i did disable RSS on the Driver Settings and we have not had a PSOD in the last 2 weeks.

however i Need to bring the 2nd 2012 Server up and running, as it will become a new Domain Controller.

my idea is to use VMXNet3 instead the E1000 and then turn the Server on, leave it up for a couple of days, copy files to / from it and perform a backup. if all goes well i can promote it to a the PSODs are very odd and make me feel uncomfortable, as we run Exchange and the Domain Controller on this Server...

[CoffeeBlack]

Not sure if you found a fix for this...but i also ran in to this issue while installing 12 r2 std.  I'm planning on updating vmware later tonight, was hoping you had found/fixed your issue.  I haven't turned on the r2 system since it psod'd.

[mwiesauer]

hi,

i disabled Receive side scaling on one of the 2012R2 servers (and kept the E1000E adapter).

on the 2nd 2012R2 server i did change the network adapter from E1000E to VMXNet3.

i can confirm, this solved our problem. No more PSODs.

i did not apply the 5.5. patch yet, but plan to do this soon.

Martin