Known Issues Proxmox VE

In Proxmox VE combined with newer kernels, various issues can occur. The following known issues are structured by area and version.

General

Network: Network interface names may change after a kernel update, which can result in loss of network connectivity after the update
Network: Firmware update for Broadcom add-on cards (network cards)
Kernel: Certain kernel parameters exist to improve system stability (AMD)

Network Name Pinning

This snippet pins network interface naming to the "PCI" location. This means that as long as network cards are not moved to different PCI slots, the interface names should remain consistent (even after updates). Note: This snippet determines the network interface names based on PCI location once, and they will need to be reconfigured (renamed) by you afterward:

cp /usr/lib/systemd/network/99-default.link /etc/systemd/network/99-default.link
sed -i 's/NamePolicy=keep kernel database onboard slot path/NamePolicy=path/' /etc/systemd/network/99-default.link
update-initramfs -u -k all

Firmware Update (Addon-Card)

Important note: please use this snippet only for Broadcom add-on cards; this script does not work for onboard Broadcom NICs.

apt install unzip
cat << 'EOF' > bcm-nic-update.sh
wget https://www.thomas-krenn.com/redx/tools/mb_download.php/ct.YuuHGw/mid.y9b3b4ba2bf7ab3b8/bnxtnvm.zip
unzip bnxtnvm.zip
chmod +x bnxtnvm
for i in $(./bnxtnvm listdev | grep 'Device Interface Name' | awk '{print $5}')
do
./bnxtnvm -dev=$i install -online -y
done
EOF

chmod +x bcm-nic-update.sh
./bcm-nic-update.sh

Kernel Recommendation

We currently recommend the following parameters as best practice, as they improve the basic stability of the system:

# install all updates to get the latest kernel
apt update && apt dist-upgrade

# use the following kernel parameters via snippet
sed -i '$ s/$/ pcie_port_pm=off/' /etc/kernel/cmdline
sed -i '$ s/$/ pcie_aspm.policy=performance/' /etc/kernel/cmdline
sed -i '$ s/$/ libata.force=noncq/' /etc/kernel/cmdline
update-initramfs -u -k all &&
proxmox-boot-tool refresh

Version 9.0

The following issues affect only version 9.0, not newer versions.

Broadcom HBA Issue

The current Proxmox kernel (6.17) has issues with certain Broadcom HBAs.

The issue manifests as NVMes and SSDs randomly disappearing from the Proxmox overview and no longer being initialized; only after a reboot are all storage devices shown again for a while.

We therefore recommend pinning the kernel to a stable version:

# install the kernel
apt install proxmox-kernel-6.14.11-6-pve
apt install proxmox-headers-6.14.11-6-pve

# pin the kernel
proxmox-boot-tool kernel list
proxmox-boot-tool kernel pin 6.14.11-6-pve
proxmox-boot-tool refresh

# update initramfs
update-initramfs -u -k all

# reboot the node
reboot

Version 8.2

The following issues affect only version 8.2, not newer versions.

Network: Broadcom network cards experience issues; the network does not work after a reboot
Q-Device: Setting up a Q-Device in Proxmox VE 8.2 results in errors during creation: see bug report https://bugzilla.proxmox.com/show_bug.cgi?id=5461

Q-Device

Setting up a Q-Device in Proxmox VE 8.2 results in errors during creation. Bug report: https://bugzilla.proxmox.com/show_bug.cgi?id=5461

Network Broadcom Down

In combination with Proxmox 8.2 and kernel 6.8, an issue occurs with Broadcom network cards. This can be resolved by blacklisting the RDMA driver and performing a firmware upgrade.

echo "blacklist bnxt_re" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bnxt_re.conf
update-initramfs -u

The server must then be rebooted once for the parameters to take effect.

Author: Jonas Sterr

Jonas Sterr has been working for Thomas-Krenn for several years. Originally employed as a trainee in technical support and then in hosting (formerly Filoo), Mr. Sterr now mainly deals with the topics of storage (SDS / Huawei / Netapp), virtualization (VMware, Proxmox, HyperV) and network (switches, firewalls) in product management at Thomas-Krenn.AG in Freyung.