hpsa-500-5.0.0-933277.zip issues

[allencrawford]

I see that the "feb2013" release on "vibsdepot" now has updated hpsa drivers, but I cannot find release notes anywhere that describe what in the world was changed/fixed. Back on the "oct2012" release, HP included the full bundle instead of just the offline bundle. The full bundle has some release notes. See:

http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/feb2013/esxi-5x-devicedrivers/
- and -
http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/oct2012/esxi-50U1-devicedrivers/
- or -
http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/oct2012/esxi-51-devicedrivers/

In addition, why in the world are these not included in the online repo when you add it to VMware Update Manager? Referring to the http://vibsdepot.hp.com/index.xml URL. This only includes the management bundles (CIM, NMI driver, etc.). Very frustrating.

Oh, and one more thing. This offline bundle acts a bit weird when importing it into VMware Update Manager. It seems to have actually replaced the previous driver in the repo, which is not normal behavior. I wouldn't be too concerned with this, but the next problem is that when you attempt to apply the update to a host with the previous version installed, it doesn't detect any change and therefore will not install it. I installed it manually by using PowerCLI, but that's not feasible for our entire environment.

I suspect the VUM issue has something to do with the fact that in the vmware.xml file inside metadata.zip, the bulletin's "id" field is set to "hpsa-500-5.0.0" which is exactly what the previous driver file is set to. The "vibID" field, however, is set to "Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-40OEM.500.0.0.472560" whereas the previous version is "Hewlett-Packard_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_5.0.0-28OEM.500.0.0.472560".

This would not be the first time HP has screwed up an offline bundle by being lazy when it comes to the XML files. I mean, even the vibID feels lazy as the trailing build number (472560) doesn't even match the actual build number listed in the bundle filename (hpsa-500-5.0.0-offline_bundle-697362.zip and hpsa-500-5.0.0-offline_bundle-933277.zip).

Anyway, we don't do much with local disks on ESXi obviously, but the reason I've been playing with this so much is because when you use the current management bundle (hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.4-16.zip) it creates a "warning" message on the HP Smart Array controller in vCenter (see attachment and also this thread). My hope was that the fix to this issue was updating to the corresponding SCSI/hpsa driver, but even after my manual install that doesn't seem to be the case.

At this point I'm going to likely skip the 1.4 mgmt. bundle and the hpsa driver update until I can learn more.

I'm running ESXi 5.0 U2 on these hosts, for the record.

[allencrawford]

Well, with more searching, I finally dug this nugget up:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_96dc068234d34bceba2e2e1139%257CswEnvOID%253D%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D5%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

Looks like the only changes to the driver are:

Added new controller support for Smart Array P822 and Smart Array P721m.

Enabled Rapid Parity initialization support. New feature will keep newly created volumes offline until parity initialization is completed. Driver will periodocally check the device to see if it is ready, and bring it online when the process is complete. Driver will indicate if there are offline volumes in /proc info file and /var/log/vmkernel log files. Feature will be enabled by Smart Array firmware update.

So I guess that answers my first question.  I've still got the issue with the broken management bundle (see http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/ESXi/HP-DL380P-ESXi-5-0-x-Smart-Array-Controller/m-p/5986287).  Hopefully someone at HP can help.  I'll be opening up a ticket to both HP and VMware in the meantime.