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FrancisAugusto
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Compiling drivers for the Aquantia AQC 10GB NICs

Hi, I started this week an attempt of compiling the linux drivers for the AQC line of 10gb cards to the ESXi. This would allow ESXi to be more functional on hardware such as the Mac Mini.

I downloaded the 32 bit CentOS 5.6 and the 6.7U1 toolchain, and it is looking promising. I still get a lot of errors, but I guess they can be solved.

There's one thing, however, that I am failing to understand. On the AQC drivers, there are references to the `struct page` and to the `count` member of this structure.

However, on the mm.h file distributed on the source code from vmware, we learn that the structure page is actually empy:

```

#if defined(__VMKLNX__)

/**                                        

*  struct page - page handle structure

*                                         

*  ESX Deviation Notes:                   

*  As we don't support page handle, this should be an opaque structure. In vmklinux

*  a page handle represents the actual page number.

*  Such an handle should not be deferenced nor used in any form of pointer

*  arithmetic to obtain the page descriptor to any adjacent page. The pointer

*  should be treated as an opague handle and should only be used as argument to

*  other functions.

*                                         

*/                                        

/* _VMKLNX_CODECHECK_: page */

struct page {

};

```

Is there an approach to go around this, or is this a dead end?

8 Replies
buggine
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I have compiled a .vib package for the AQN, AQC, 107, 108 Nic for use in ESXI 6.x

Upload vib package to data store, then install vib

Install vip on ESXI

~ # esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/5c4f5188-ac8cf5ed-3e92-40167eade4f4/AquantiaAQN107-2.0.22.017.x86_64.vib --no-sig-check -f

of course, the volume id will be different on your esxi

pastedImage_0.png

Let me know how it goes

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rfv3
Contributor
Contributor

Any chance you just archived the source code in to a vib? It sort of seems that way...

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TRACKERSOFT
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

i've tried the driver, attached here in ESXi 6.7 U1,  card was recognized but i was not able to get vmnic up and running.

However, i've contacted Aquantia directly Smiley Happy

They have "official" test driver here:

Releases · Aquantia/AQtion-esxi · GitHub

I've already install the driver, everything works very well so far.

Hope this helps.

Greetings!

buggine
Contributor
Contributor

Perfect,  Was wondering when they would release it.  I had called them too, but was told q2 some time and i keep looking on their site but didn't see anything will give it a try.

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Artah45
Contributor
Contributor

This is awesome, you planning to make one for VMWare 7?  Have not tried to contact Aquantia on their plans to make one but the one that they have didn't work for me.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You should note that "vmklinux" drivers are not supported with ESXi 7, so if that's the driver type which was used here it will not work - only "native" drivers are now supported.


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ZibiM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This is bit old thread and the situation changed during last year.

There is old community driver available on github.

GitHub - Aquantia/AQtion-esxi: Aquantia AQC10x multigigabit PCIe NIC linux driver (atlantic) - VmWar...

It's linux based and as such will not work with vsphere 7.0

There is also fling for USB nics that supports Aquantia cards:

USB Network Native Driver for ESXi | VMware Flings

There is actually a version of the fling, that is vsphere 7 compatible

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GregChristopher
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi, 
    I think there is some incorrect information on the VMware web site. The latest drivers from aquantia (now Marvell) say they are compatible with vSphere 7. However, my experience is that they actually are not working. when accessed via esxcli, they show the wrong Mac address of the cards and they don't work- instead knock down my LAN.

   I wonder: what are the marks of a vmklinux driver vs the native ones?

   I worry about this move- it seems like you'll have MUCH less compatibility. But I sense it's legally motivated.

 

 

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