diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst b/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
index cf2bfcf4cb..51f51259e3 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
@@ -161,6 +161,19 @@ Limitations
   - NIC ConnectX-5 and before are not supported.
   - Partial match with item template is not supported.
   - IPv6 5-tuple matching is not supported.
+  - With E-Switch enabled, ports which share the E-Switch domain
+    should be started and stopped in a specific order:
+
+    - When starting ports, the transfer proxy port should be started first
+      and port representors should follow.
+    - When stopping ports, all of the port representors
+      should be stopped before stopping the transfer proxy port.
+
+    If ports are started/stopped in an incorrect order,
+    ``rte_eth_dev_start()``/``rte_eth_dev_stop()`` will return an appropriate error code:
+
+    - ``-EAGAIN`` for ``rte_eth_dev_start()``.
+    - ``-EBUSY`` for ``rte_eth_dev_stop()``.
 
 - When using Verbs flow engine (``dv_flow_en`` = 0), flow pattern without any
   specific VLAN will match for VLAN packets as well:
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_trigger.c b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_trigger.c
index fe6359908a..f54443ed1a 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_trigger.c
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_trigger.c
@@ -1138,6 +1138,10 @@ mlx5_hw_representor_port_allowed_start(struct rte_eth_dev *dev)
  *
  * @return
  *   0 on success, a negative errno value otherwise and rte_errno is set.
+ *   The following error values are defined:
+ *
+ *   - -EAGAIN: If port representor cannot be started,
+ *     because transfer proxy port is not started.
  */
 int
 mlx5_dev_start(struct rte_eth_dev *dev)
@@ -1394,6 +1398,13 @@ mlx5_hw_proxy_port_allowed_stop(struct rte_eth_dev *dev)
  *
  * @param dev
  *   Pointer to Ethernet device structure.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   0 on success, a negative errno value otherwise and rte_errno is set.
+ *   The following error values are defined:
+ *
+ *   - -EBUSY: If transfer proxy port cannot be stopped,
+ *     because other port representors are still running.
  */
 int
 mlx5_dev_stop(struct rte_eth_dev *dev)