OTV + Nexus 7000 + “lost RARPs bug” causes vMotioned VMs to briefly lose connectivity

For those with networks that use Cisco OTV with Nexus 7Ks to extend Layer 2 connectivity between sites, be aware that there is a bug (CSCuq54506) that may cause brief network connectivity issues for VMs that are vMotioned between the sites. The first symptom you may notice is that a VM appears to drop ping or lose connectivity for almost 1-2 minutes after it is vMotioned between sites.  Following a vMotion, a destination ESXi host will send RARP traffic to notify switches and update the MAC tables. When this bug occurs, the RARP traffic/updates basically don’t make it to all of the switches at the source site.  (Note: Since not having portfast enabled on the source or destination host switch ports can cause symptoms that may look a bit similar, it’s a good idea to confirm portfast is enabled on all of the ports.)

Troubleshooting that can be used from the VMware side to help identify if you are hitting the bug:

• Start running two continuous pings to a test VM:  one continuous ping from the site you are vMotioning from, and one continuous ping from the site you are vMotioning to.
• vMotion the test VM from one site to the other.
• If you see the continuous ping at the source site (site VM was vMotioned from) drop for 30-60 seconds, but the continuous ping at the destination site (site VM was vMotioned to) stays up or only drops a ping packet, then you may want to work with Cisco TAC to determine if the root cause is this bug.