1748352 Members
5057 Online
108762 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

ESXi image for Synergy

 
SOLVED
Go to solution
oozhu
Occasional Visitor

ESXi image for Synergy

Hello all,

Happy Halloween.

I just want to post a quick question to pick your brain and find out if I'm insane. Long story short, it seems we used a wrong HPE customized ESXi image in our Synergy farm.

Our vCenters have a mixture of Gen10 DL360/380 and some Synergy Frame with 480 and 660 nodes. We have used HPE-Gen9plus-670.U3 ESXi image on them, and in a recent support call, HPE Support has advised that this ESXi image is not compatible with the Synergy nodes. And off course now on HPE website, there is a link for тАЬNew* ESXi 6.7 U3 - HPE Synergy Only May 2020тАЭ. https://www.hpe.com/au/en/servers/hpe-esxi.html

Luckily we are not having any real production issue, but this thing just drives me nuts. As IтАЩve been working on Synergy for two years, with two different organizations, and I canтАЩt recall that IтАЩve seen the HPE Synergy Custom ESXi Image before May 2020? All I can think of is the HPE HPE-Gen9plus ESXi images?

Can you please let me know if youтАЩve used a HPE Synergy Custom ESXi Image before? When was that and what ESXi version was it?

Thank you very much.

5 REPLIES 5
tech3d
HPE Pro
Solution

Re: ESXi image for Synergy

Hi Oozhu,  Preity good point you raised.

Yes, there never used to be a Synergy custom image for ESXi prior to May 2020.

The reason we came up with this separate image for Synergy is due to the fact that the product architecture is different compared to any other. Synergy being a composable architecture is a system that has dependencies for functionality & management. 

Although you might not really faces any issues using a non Synergy hpe custom image of ESXi, performance or stability issues might come up in future as the drivers/ management agents are different if we compare a Synergy environment to a non-Synergy one.

We have documented the compatibility details in this : https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c04430318

Also, as mentioned earlier the Synergy being a composable architecture, we have the OS Support tool with mentions the supported ESXi builds : https://techhub.hpe.com/us/en/enterprise/docs/index.aspx?doc=/eginfolib/synergy/sw_release_info/VMware_Support.html

Hope the information is helpful.


I work for HPE

Accept or Kudo


oozhu
Occasional Visitor

Re: ESXi image for Synergy

Thank you so much for the help.

DGNomad
Collector

Re: ESXi image for Synergy

Ok so now here's the follow-up questions for those that have to update hundreds of hosts....

1) Can you safely run an ISO or VUM upgrade of the install using the Updated Synergy Specific image ...or 

2) Do you have to slick the install and run a fresh install?

3) Is there any historical evidence of upgrades not properly converting to the supported synergy build

4) Just for clarity, what is the functional difference between the Synergy Custom and Proliant standard ISO? Is it software load differences for features and monitoring or something

Many Thaks DGN

Mansoor1
HPE Pro

Re: ESXi image for Synergy

1) Can you safely run an ISO or VUM upgrade of the install using the Updated Synergy Specific image ...or

Ans: I would recommend you to download and install fresh HPE Custom Synergy image (fresh install) and not upgrade from current revision.

2) Do you have to slick the install and run a fresh install?

Ans: Perform fresh install - many drivers don't work upon upgrading from what you have as of now.

3) Is there any historical evidence of upgrades not properly converting to the supported synergy build

Ans: HPE Images for Synergy servers are custimzed as per the Synergy hardware and networking equipment used within Synergy Infra. Any other image may not have drivers/firmware of the hardware that your HPE synergy servers have.
We have had cases in the past - where networking functionalities like were hampered in the customer's environment, since there were not using HPE Custom Synergy images.

4) Just for clarity, what is the functional difference between the Synergy Custom and Proliant standard ISO? Is it software load differences for features and monitoring or something?
Ans: Please refer to the following URL: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/hpe-esxi.html

Mohammed Mansoor Mohiuddin
Technical Solutions Consultant (HP-UX, HP-PA-RISC, Integrity Blade Server & HPE Synergy Servers )
Enterprise Solution Centre | TSG HPE Services

Accept or Kudo

oozhu
Occasional Visitor

Re: ESXi image for Synergy

I'm not a HPE representative, so I'll just say from what I did as a server engineer.

I did raise a case with HPE to discuss the upgrade path and eventually escalated to the HPE local TAM, as I was not happy about the customer blaming I received from HPE support initially. The official advice I received was to do an in-place upgrade with the 2020 May Synergy ESXi 6.7u3 image, the high level sequence is vCenter>ESXi>OneView>Synergy SPP>F/W of other I/O devices (network and storage devices).

So last November, I set up an ESXi VUM baseline, with the 2020 May HPE Synergy ESXi 6.7u3 image (the current Synergy ESXi 6.7u3 is Jan 2021) and 2020 November ESXi updates, after the update complete, the host image was showing 2020 May HPE Synergy ESXi 6.7u3, and ESXi build was from November 2020. I donтАЩt recall the exact build number, but if you know ESXi and HPE, you should know what IтАЩm talking about

It all worked well after updates.

If you have hundreds Synergy nodes, you should have sufficient HPE support to confirm the information needed, also potentially some support credit to have a HPE engineer to update the Synergy infrastructure for you, this was offered by our HPE local TAM after I made enough noise.