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Evato
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How to install ESXi 4 with custom network drivers.

I had a problem where I had an IBM BladeCenter H with HS22V blades and the Emulex (ServerEngines) Virtual Fabric Adapter (cffh) - 49Y4235 modules.

Emulex OneConnect OCm10102-N-X ( IBM P/N 49Y4235)

As the internal NetXtreme II cards didn't have any connection outside of the chassis, I was stuck with a way to install the drivers from the Driver CD section of the vSphere 4 downloads.

http://www.vmware.com/download/vsphere/drivers_tools.html

For me, it was the VMware ESX/ESXi 4.0 Driver CD for ServerEngines BladeEngine 10Gb Ethernet Controller (version 2.101.386.0)

Once I had the driver CD, this is the process I followed.

Extract the driver ISO to a USB key (FAT16)

Install ESXi 4.0

Reboot, Login as root.

As no networking is available yet, the only way to copy the files from the USB key to ESXi is via the use of a Linux "Live" CD. I used CentOS 5.5

Boot to the Live CD (have the USB key with the drivers inserted too)

I found that CentOS automounted the USB key as sda1 and the ESXi volumes as sdb(x) (in /mnt/disc/)

The scratch volume in my instance was sdb2 (verify with the existence of the /downloads directory)

You will need to make the ESXi volume read/write (default is read only)

mount -o rw,remount /dev/sdb2

Change to the scratch volume downloads directory.

cd /mnt/disc/sdb2/downloads

Copy the directory structure with the drivers.

cp -R /mnt/disc/sda1/vmware-esx-drivers-net-be2net_400.2.101.386.0-1.0.4.165009.222638/ .

reboot

While rebooting, remove the USB Key and Live CD.

ESXi then starts.

Enter Tech Support Mode (TSM) by selecting ALT-F1 then typing the word unsupported (Note: Keystrokes won't be displayed)

Enter the root password when prompted

The offline bundle needs to be installed with the host in Maintenance Mode.

cd /usr/sbin

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

Change to the location of the offline bundle.

cd /scratch/downloads/vmware-esx-drivers-net-be2net_400.2.101.386.0-1.0.4.165009.222638/offline-bundle

Apply the update and (when it's finished installing), reboot.

esxupdate --bundle=sve-be2net-2.101.386.0-offline_bundle-222638.zip update

reboot

F2 to customise

login as root

Configure Management Network

Network Adapters

Select your required NIC, VLAN etc...

The process for ESXi 4.1 should be similar (note, you'll have to enable TSM), but the driver CD I had didn't appear to support ESXi 4.1 (even though it's on the HCL for 4.1 - maybe a slight oversight..)

That's all there is to it... I'm now off for a meal at Milliways...

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7 Replies
Braden
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks a lot for this post. We just fired up our brand new HS22V blades to find that we could not get the Emulex card detected. Following this guide (although I used Ubuntu) made all the difference and worked like a charm. Also, I'm not sure how you found those drivers would support the Emulex CNA, but nice work!

Mounting the CDROM in the tech support console was a lost cause. The console does not seem to support mounting any sort of CDROM device, even though I could clearly see it listed in /dev/cdrom. The mount command would fail.

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toobulkeh
Contributor
Contributor

is it possible to do this without linux live cd? can esxi mount discs itself? Trying this procedure with ESXi 4.1 and Qlogic CNA drivers...

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Evato
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Unfortunately ESXi doesn't have the capability to mount either a CD or USB key. Hence the long workaround.

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Timothy1
Contributor
Contributor

Funny thing... I wonder. I have the same problems but I can just update the drivers by finding the zip file in the cd and using the vmware remote cli / vsphere cli

vihostupdate.pl --server use the green upload arrow to upload the files)

Timothy

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RORISS
Contributor
Contributor

Alternative:

0. Download your needed drivers

1. Enable from ESXi 4.1 Console -  SSH protocol

2. SSH into ESXi IP address

3. SCP from ESXi SSH terminal your required drivers from a Linux or UNIX system; in .

Ex: scp root@10.60.0.10:/root/SVE-be2net-2.102.440.0-offline_bundle-292682.zip

4. Put ESXi in maintenance mode

Ex: vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

5. Run esxupdate

Ex: esxupdate --bundle=SVE-be2net-2.102.440.0-offline_bundle-292682.zip update

Ex: Unpacking cross_vmware-esx-dr.. ######################################## [100%]

6. Reboot

Rgds,

FM

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Evato
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Tim / Roris,

One thing you both have missed here (but thanks for your suggestions) is that this solution is for those that have async network drivers as their only network connectivity. As such, it's a little difficult to establish a ssh or scp session to copy or install drivers before networking is available in the first place.... It's a chicken and the egg situation.

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Matt4
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I've posted an easy way to mount the driver CD without a workaround over here:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1698234

Hope this helps!

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