DCBX on 710 for ESXi

tm71 · ‎12-29-2024

Hi,

have difficulties to bring up DCBX on Ethernet Controller XXV710 @25GbE on ESXi 8.0u3 hosts.

We try to enable DCBX on vmnic2,3. When the DBC staus is checked, the driver says it does not support DCB. All validate on the latest drivers from both Intel and VMware. Have few questions:

1) Nic LLDP client is disabled. Can I use DCBX without the NIC LLDP client?

2) Following error "DCB not supported for NIC vmnic2: Unable to complete Sysinfo operation. Please see the VMkernel log file for more details.: Not supported: VSI node (720:VSI_NODE_net_pNics_dcbx_dcbMode)" shows on ESXi while checking DCBX status.

3) We are connected to DBC enable Juniper switch where IEEE DCBX enabled. Do I need any additional config on the intel NIC to get DCBX working?

4) There is lot of posts that enabling NIC LLDP client will hide LLDP protocol to ESXi. Any way to enable both LLDP on ESXi and DCB ?

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:/var/log] esxcli network nic list

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

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

vmnic0 0000:3d:00.0 i40en Up Up 1000 Full a4:bf:01:83:ba:8f 1500 Intel(R) Ethernet Connection X722 for 10GBASE-T

vmnic1 0000:3d:00.1 i40en Up Up 1000 Full a4:bf:01:83:ba:90 1500 Intel(R) Ethernet Connection X722 for 10GBASE-T

vmnic2 0000:86:00.0 i40en Up Up 25000 Full 40:a6:b7:20:a2:10 9000 Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XXV710 for 25GbE SFP28

vmnic3 0000:86:00.1 i40en Up Up 25000 Full 40:a6:b7:20:a2:11 9000 Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XXV710 for 25GbE SFP28

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:/var/log] esxcli network nic get -n vmnic2

Advertised Auto Negotiation: true

Advertised Link Modes: Auto, 25000BaseCR1/Full

Auto Negotiation: true

Backing DPUId: N/A

Cable Type: DA

Current Message Level: 0

Driver Info:

Bus Info: 0000:86:00:0

Driver: i40en

Firmware Version: 9.40 0x8000ed12 1.3429.0

Version: 2.7.2.0

Link Detected: true

Link Status: Up

Name: vmnic2

PHYAddress: 0

Pause Autonegotiate: false

Pause RX: false

Pause TX: false

Supported Ports: DA

Supports Auto Negotiation: true

Supports Pause: true

Supports Wakeon: false

Transceiver:

Virtual Address: 00:50:56:51:7e:00

Wakeon: None

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:/var/log] esxcli network nic stats get -n vmnic2

NIC statistics for vmnic2

Packets received: 23448889516

Packets sent: 15180044970

Bytes received: 31450091514354

Bytes sent: 15670853093655

Receive packets dropped: 35552

Transmit packets dropped: 0

Multicast packets received: 2528039

Broadcast packets received: 4376325

Multicast packets sent: 272470

Broadcast packets sent: 628436

Total receive errors: 0

Receive length errors: 0

Receive over errors: 0

Receive CRC errors: 0

Receive frame errors: 0

Receive FIFO errors: 0

Receive missed errors: 0

Total transmit errors: 0

Transmit aborted errors: 0

Transmit carrier errors: 0

Transmit FIFO errors: 0

Transmit heartbeat errors: 0

Transmit window errors: 0

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:/var/log] esxcli network nic pauseParams set -r true -t true -n vmnic2

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:~] esxcli network nic dcb status get -n vmnic2

DCB not supported for NIC vmnic2: Unable to complete Sysinfo operation. Please see the VMkernel log file for more details.: Not supported: VSI node (720:VSI_NODE_net_pNics_dcbx_dcbMode)

[root@vcf01-prg-esx01:/var/log] esxcli system module parameters list -m i40en

Name Type Value Description

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

DRSS array of int Number of queues for Default Queue Receive-Side Scaling (DRSS): 0/4/8/16 (default = 0)

EEE array of int Energy Efficient Ethernet feature (EEE): 0 = disable, 1 = enable, (default = 1)

LLDP array of int 0,0,0,0 Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) agent: 0 = disable, 1 = enable, (default = 1)

MaxRdmaInts int Maximum RDMA Interrupts (default = 16)

RDMA array of int Enable RDMA support 0 = disable, 1 = enable, (default = 0)

RSS array of int Enable/disable the NetQueue RSS (default = 1)

RxITR int Default RX interrupt interval (0..4095), in microseconds (default = 50)

TxITR int Default TX interrupt interval (0..4095)), in microseconds, (default = 100)

VMDQ array of int Number of Virtual Machine Device Queues: 0/1 = disable, 2-16 enable (default =8)

max_vfs array of int Maximum number of VFs to be enabled (0..128)

trust_all_vfs array of int Always set all VFs to trusted mode 0 = disable (default), other = enable

Sachinks · ‎02-18-2025

Hello tm71,

Thank you for posting in the Intel Community Forum. We sincerely apologize for the delay in our response. We have received your concern and would like to assure you that assisting you is our top priority.

Could you kindly let us know if the issue has been resolved, or if you require further assistance from us regarding this? Your prompt response will greatly help us in diagnosing and resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

Regards,

Sachin KS

Intel Customer Support Technician

tm71 · ‎02-18-2025

no solution so far, DCBX on 710 does not work on ESXi host

Sachinks · ‎02-18-2025

Hello tm71,

Thank you for your reply.

As you have confirmed that DCBX on XXV710 is not working on ESXi host, kindly provide us the below details so that we can look into it.

1) Kindly provide us the system details in which this ethernet controller is installed ( motherboard model details )

2) Kindly confirm if the XXV710 card is a built-in card or was it manually added later

Also kindly confirm if you have checked this with the VMware team? If not, we request you to check this once with the VMware team to get their analysis.

Regards,

Sachin KS

Intel Customer Support Technician

tm71 · ‎02-19-2025

Hi,

Motherboard is:
Intel S2600WFT
BIOS ID : SE5C620.86B.02.01.0016.032120230338
BMC FW Rev : 2.88.71773d70

Card is standard PCIe from Intel too:
Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XXV710 for 25GbE SFP28
PCI 0000:86:00.0

Advertised Auto Negotiation: true
Advertised Link Modes: Auto, 25000BaseCR1/Full
Auto Negotiation: true
Backing DPUId: N/A
Cable Type: DA

Link Detected: true
Link Status: Up
Name: vmnic2
PHYAddress: 0
Pause Autonegotiate: false
Pause RX: true
Pause TX: true
Supported Ports: DA
Supports Auto Negotiation: true
Supports Pause: true
Supports Wakeon: false
Transceiver:

BIOS View:

PCI Class Code Slot Number Vendor ID Device ID Current Speed(Mbps) PortIdx Media State MAC Address Firmware Version

2 0x0325 0x8086 0x158B 8000 15 Media is connected 40-a6-b7-20-a2-10 1.3429.0

Sachinks · ‎02-19-2025

Hello tm71,

Good day!

Thank you for the details. We are checking this from our end and we will get back to you with an update at the earliest. In the meantime, kindly confirm if you have checked this with the VMware team to get their analysis on this.

Regards,

Sachin KS

Intel Customer Support Technician

tm71 · ‎02-20-2025

Hi,

Spoke to one of ours developer and i40en which is a driver for XXV710 does not support DBC.
So the issue is on our end.

i40en does not support DCB. Only Intel x722 support iWARP others not, iWARP runs with TCP/IP, it doesn't need a lossless network, so i40en driver doesn't register cap VMK_UPLINK_CAP_DCB, that's why the command 'dcb status' is not working.

tm71 · ‎02-20-2025

I am from the Broadcom.

tm71 · ‎02-20-2025

Thank you and consider this as resolved.

Sachinks · ‎02-22-2025

Hello tm71,

Good day!

Thank you for your reply and thank you for checking this from your end and providing the details. I have also checked this with my team and they also confirmed that, Software-Based DCBX on Current Intel OOT Base Driver (X710) In VMware is not supported.

Please Refer table in section 2.1. in the below document.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/783899/intel-ethernet-product-fw-lldp-usage-control.html?wapkw=DCB%20LLDP&DocID=783899

As you have confirmed the case closure, we will go ahead and close this thread for now.

Regards,

Sachin KS

Intel Customer Support Technician