vmware esxi be2net driver fixes

[Rob Buxton]

Hi All,
We've got some BL465c G7's with the HP variant of ESXi 4.1 installed.
We're finding that going into maintenance mode hangs the server. Well a few things seem to hang the server, but we're still investigating.

One item I've found are updates to the SVE-be2net driver.
The release notes say to apply this if you're seeing one of the "Documented Fixes". trouble is I've not found any documented fixes to compare what we're seeing.

I'm not aware of any advisories.
Anyone seen similar or knows of the fixes in this driver?
TIA Rob..

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

hi,

check this link :

"Cant install driver update bundles to 4.1"

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1589335

thats how to how to install, and fix the update.

hope it will help

mikap

[Rob Buxton]

Thanks but I know how to install offline bundles. I'm trying to find documents on what issues this actually addresses.
Not required now as I've tracked down that we actually have this version of the driver loaded.
If you use vihostupdate.pl to scan the host it claims this bundle is not installed. That's why I wanted to find out what it fixed.

But from the wbem page on the host is shows this version as the installed driver. Took me a while to track where the information was recorded.

[Rob Girard]

DISCLAIMER: The file I am uploading is not supported and I do not accept any responsibility for any problems it may cause.
-----------
I had the same problem. When I pulled the driver bundles apart, I found that there were references in the .xml files for [version="4.0"], and my 4.1 system knows better than to install something not intended for it. There was an updated release in September, but they only fixed half of the problem. In the new driver release, there were references for version="4.*", but then another XML file in the same bundle has a reference for version="4.0"

In the offline bundle, I modified the references for version=4.0 to be version="4.*". There were 2 files modified inside metadata.zip (in the offline_bundle.zip):
platforms.xml (in the root of metadata.zip)
AND
primary.xml, which was in /repodata/primary.xml.gz

Both 4.0 references were changed to 4.* and the driver installed great and works fine. You can install it direct to the host, but I used Update Manager instead, built an extension baseline, then pushed it to all my blades that needed that driver. In my case, the blades are using the NC550m mez cards.

I have no idea why the drivers posted by VMware are incorrect twice in a row for ESXi 4.1, but according to their site, 4.1 is supported.

Anyway, to save you the effort of doing what I did, I've uploaded my offline bundle file for you. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK - I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PROBLEMS IT MAY CAUSE.

Cheers,
Rob

[Rob Girard]

My attachement on my last post was renamed by the forum. The correct filename should be:
SVE-be2net-2.102.440.0-offline_bundle-292682.zip

You can point VUM at this file, or reference it directly on your host with esxupdate.

Hope this helps!

[Matthew R Puckett - VMW]

to force an update of 4.0 on 4.1 you sould be able to run "esxupdate --bundle=offline-bundle.zip update --maintenance --nosig"

[Rob Girard]

Thanks Matthew, good to know! Is there any way to do this through VUM (VMware Update Manager) ? I've got through the options, but there does not appear to be anywhere in VUM where I can change which products an extension applies to.

Thank you!

[Rob Buxton]

Thread seems to have taken on a life / direction of its own.
I never did find out what the driver fixes. Hopefully others have gained info on how to apply HP and other third party extensions into ESXi.
We've now started to import the zip files into VUM and have created a new HP Baseline. Seems to work well.