HPE BL465c G7 Upgrade from 5.5 to 6.0 not going well

[seandrethegiant]

I am trying to get my first BL465c G7 (AMD 6100 series processor) with Emulex NC551i upgraded to vSphere 6.0 U2.  I have run the SPP disk from late 2016 as well as run what I believe to the be the latest emulex upgrade disk (10.5.160.0) as the later versions of the Emulex disk (Legacy_OneConnect-Flash-11.1.183.23) doesnt update and the documentation doesnt list the NC551i that we have on our blades.   

Our chassis firmware for flex 10 is at 4.40. 

When I run the upgrade (or attempt to install from ISO) It installs and then I get a NIC not found error (more specifically the NIC with MAC ADDRESS xxxxxxxxxxx not found). 

Can anyone give me additional info on what drivers/firmware/update im missing to get vSphere 6.0 U2 installed?

[bl465c-G7-NC551]

I am also experiencing a very similar challenge.

I have HPE BL465c G7 with Emulex NC551i cards, worked fine with ESXi 5.0 and 5.5 using the be2net driver VMware_bootbank_net-be2net_4.6.100.0v-1vmw.550.0.0.1331820.vib

As for firmware versions, this version works in ESXi 5.5: be2net  Version: 4.6.100.0v, whereas none of these versions I tried: elxnet  Version: 10.2.309.6v (at VMware's request)    ;   elxnet  Version: 10.7.220.6     ;     elxnet Version:  10.7.110.44 (last two are for VMware 6.0 U2)

I am trying to get ESXi 6 Update 2 installed and have customised HP's custom image to remove the EMU_bootbank_elxnet_11.1.145.0-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847.vib as this is known not to be compatible and replaced it in image builder with EMU_bootbank_elxnet_10.7.110.44-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847.vib to no avail.

REFs: HPE VMware recipe - see p15 NC551i ; Apr 2016 VMware recipe SPP 201604_20.2 ; HPE Advisory c05154182

I end up booting into ESXi 6, but without network: "no compatible network adapter found. please consult the product's hardware compatibility guide (HCG) for a list of supported adapters"

Anecdotally there was reference on a website to disabling the elxnet driver and reenabling be2net, unfortunately the be2net isn't in the vibs in the HPE custom image for 6.0 U2 Dec 2016.

FootNote 10 in the HPE VMware recipe advises to use the HPE custom image 6.0 U2 Apr 2016, unfortunately I can't find that image and end back with the Dec 2016 image when I follow any links for the April download.

I've had a call with VMware tech supp for the past week without resolution - can anyone please advise how to resolve ?

[Torsten.]

I'm really not an ESXI expert, but I know firmware and driver must fit together.

Your firmware version probably does not match the driver, see for example:

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5033633&swItemId=MTX_e8cf2643b58d4cae862f7630b4&swEnvOid=4183#tab6

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5033633&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4183

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=19068

...

[bl465c-G7-NC551]

Thanks for the speedy response, Torsten, I should have also stated that all firmware was patched to latest SPP 2016.10.0 (at time of writing) using HP SUM 7.6.0 before running VMware updates to 6

[Torsten.]

The first link says

The firmware for the following CNA products is now frozen at version 4.9.416.15

What firmware is currently installed?

[bl465c-G7-NC551]

Hi Torsten,

the HP SUM report lists the firmware version as "4.6.100.0v" , which coincidentally is exactly the same as the driver version, so I have no confidence at all in the firmware version for the NIC cards, I'll keep digging see if I can find a firmware version that makes sense ;-)

OK the be2net driver reports the following (running the current ESXi 5.5 software):-

ethtool -i vmnic0:-

driver: be2net
version: 4.6.100.0v
firmware-version: 2.102.517.703
bus-info: 0000:04:00.0

so looks like the firmware is delivered as part of the driver vib

[Torsten.]

Looks like the firmware on the NIX is too old, you probably need

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5033633&swItemId=MTX_e8cf2643b58d4cae862f7630b4&swEnvOid=4183#tab3

[bl465c-G7-NC551]

Hi Torsten,

unfortunately that firmware won't load:-

"./CP028194.vmexe
Starting Smart Component...
argv[0]=[./hpsetup]
Calling OEMFLASHER.DOFLASH()...
Calling oem_do_discovery_with_files
m_oDiscoveryHeader.m_sDiscoveryFile=[/tmp/EMULEX_FC_HBA_DISC.xml]
m_sFirmwareBinDir=[./Flash/]
Segmentation fault
"

I wonder if it's for fibre channel cards only, although the driver title says "HPE Firmware Flash for Emulex Fibre Channel Host Bus and Converged Network Adapters for VMware vSphere 5.5 and 6.0" the Type says "Firmware - Storage Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel Over Ethernet"

I did look for network adapter firmware the other day and drew a blank, thanks for your recommendation though.

ta,

[Torsten.]

>> Segmentation fault

Something went wrong during file transfer I guess. Did you ftp the file?

However, here are the instructions again:

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5033633&swItemId=MTX_e8cf2643b58d4cae862f7630b4&swEnvOid=4183#tab3

The file contains a few different firmware files, but at least this applies to your problem:

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5033633&swItemId=MTX_e8cf2643b58d4cae862f7630b4&swEnvOid=4183#tab2

...

Updated CNA (BE2) firmware 4.9.416.15

...

The device itself has firmware, the firmware containing in the driver must fit this version, otherwise it won't work.

Take care to NOT update from a version 2.x or 3.x directly to 10.x, make sure you update to 4.x version!

[bl465c-G7-NC551]

Hi again Torsten,

I've repeated the download, checked the md5 sum again, uploaded to ESXi host and checked md5sum again, and still segfaulted:-

"md5sum CP028194.zip
6f72730d9ad278220f6a70a4adb1b5b5  CP028194.zip
/tmp/scratch/var/tmp # unzip CP028194.zip
Archive:  CP028194.zip
  inflating: CP028194.vmexe
  inflating: CP028194.vmfile
  inflating: CP028194.xml
  inflating: README.txt
/tmp/scratch/var/tmp # chmod +x CP028194.vmexe
/tmp/scratch/var/tmp # ./CP028194.vmexe
Starting Smart Component...
argv[0]=[./hpsetup]
Calling OEMFLASHER.DOFLASH()...
Calling oem_do_discovery_with_files
m_oDiscoveryHeader.m_sDiscoveryFile=[/tmp/EMULEX_FC_HBA_DISC.xml]
m_sFirmwareBinDir=[./Flash/]
Segmentation fault"

thanks for your advise so far, has the original poster not got a solution yet - it's gone all quiet there ?

I am expecting a webex with VMware this afternoon and will report how we get on in due course.