iDRAC keeps messaging: The NIC in Slot 4 Port 1 network link is started.

Hello,

I would consider moving the remote port the NIC is connecting to, so that you can see if the link is being broken by the switch port or testing an alternate cable. Upgrading the iDRAC firmware should have no impact on a PCI card connecting to a switch.

Hi Dylan,

Well i had not mentioned that we were having this problem on all our machines with mellanox Connect4 and connectx5 cards. So i am talking about around 20 machines connected.

I did downgraded iDRAC to 4.40.40.00 and no more idrac messages.

We too have ConnectX-4 cards flapping on just one port. Verified hardware and cabling are ok by swapping them. Submitted SA logs to Dell Support for review. No answers yet.
Reverting to v4.40.40 has resolved this for us.
No more flapping in the last 45 min.

We will check this our Engineering team and revert back with update

Excellent! Thanks Shine!
The details are in the case ID ending with ******4259

Last week we also attempted to upgrade to v5.00.10.00 unfortunately the flapping port up/down issue returned as well.
So we also had to revert to 4.40.40.
Has PowerEdge engineering been able to replicate this problem in their test labs?
Did they have a successful upgrade before releasing v5.00.10.00?

Thanks again for the continued efforts to get this resolved.

I wanted to post this on the linux-poweredge list, but it keeps bouncing. So i am back here:

Since IDRAC version 5.00.00.00 our C6420 machines keep sending messages that the NIC interface went down and up. Those message repeat themselves for a couple of times and then stay silent for a couple of hours.

We first thought that the NIC went down as shown

System Host Name: r37n1
Event Message: The NIC in Slot 4 Port 1 network link is down.
Date/Time: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 08:19:29 +0200
Severity: Warning

Detailed Description: The network link is down. Either the network cable is not connected or the network device is not working.

Message ID: NIC100

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

System Host Name: r37n1
Event Message: The NIC in Slot 4 Port 1 network link is started.
Date/Time: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 08:19:29 +0200
Severity: Informational

Detailed Description: The transition from network link not started (down) to network link started (up) has been detected on the NIC controller port identified in the message.
Recommended Action: No response action is required.
Message ID: NIC101

But that is not the case. We have Mellanox ConnectX4 cards and with the arrival of iDrac 5.00.10.00 i updated the firmwares of BIOS, Mellanox card and iDrac to the lastest levels. Still we get those messages.

However when i downgrade the iDrac back to version 4.40.40.00 the messages stay away.

Configuration:
C6420 BIOS 2.12.2
mellanox connectx4 14.28.45.12

Hello linux-tg and J0sephus1,

I'm sorry to see the port is flapping down/up and it seems to have a correlation with iDRAC 5.00.10.00 as it does not occur on 4.40.40.00.  I will have to do some research on this.

Question for J0sephus1:  You indicated you had a support case open for the issue. Is it still in progress?

Can you Private Message me the case number and service tag number so I can take a look over it?

Hello,

I just received word that there is an issue with this and the development team is working on it.  I don't have an estimated date yet.

For now you may choose to stay with iDRAC 4.40.40.00 and check support site for next update.

Hi Charles,

That is good news. Will this fix be mentioned in the README of the upcomming iDRAC fix?

Cheers,

Jaap

Hi @linux-tg,

To be honest, the support do not have visibility on the engineer development roadmap and release dates, but we only know it's being reported and dealt with.

Hopefully it is fixed on the next release, as this effects multiple users. 

Still happening after a year...

The workaround is "racadm set iDRAC.PCIeVDM.Enable Disabled"

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-sg/000191639/network-and-fibre-channel-adapter-ports-link-status-shows-down-under-idrac-network-devices

Did you tried with latest iDRAC and NIC FW? Which Server and NIC controller you have?

Hello Ryan,

Could you please share content of the support article that you are referencing.

I'm getting "This article is permission based" message when trying to access the link.

I'm troubleshooting the same issue of NIC port flapping on M640 blades.