How can download latest drivers for esxi

[baber]

I have 2 question :

1- How can understand the current version of pnic and HBA model and drivers  ?

2 - Do I had to use follow link from Driver-tools tab for get latest drivers that are compatiable for esxi 6.7 ?

Download VMware vSphere

3- There some drivers also here fo vsan now which driver had to install ? Do I had to use Driver-Tools tab in vMware vsphere or VSAN vMware ?

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info?slug=datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsan/6_7#drivers...

BR

[IRIX201110141]

First part of the answer....   it uses the old way and you have to poke around how it work with "esxcli" because esxcfg is depricated but work with 6.7.

esxcfg-scsidevs -a

esxcfg-nics -l

are showing which driver module the ESXi currently use for a given device.

esxcli software vib list | grep -i NAME

showing driver version number of the package which is installed.

Examples:

[root@esx-node-02:~] esxcfg-nics -l
Name    PCI          Driver      Link Speed      Duplex MAC Address       MTU    Description
vmnic0  0000:01:00.0 ixgbe       Up   10000Mbps  Full   b8:ca:3a:5e:cc:08 9000   Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
vmnic1  0000:01:00.1 ixgbe       Up   10000Mbps  Full   b8:ca:3a:5e:cc:0a 9000   Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
vmnic2  0000:04:00.0 ixgbe       Up   10000Mbps  Full   a0:36:9f:20:96:a4 9000   Intel(R) Ethernet 10G 2P X520 Adapter
vmnic3  0000:04:00.1 ixgbe       Up   10000Mbps  Full   a0:36:9f:20:96:a6 9000   Intel(R) Ethernet 10G 2P X520 Adapter
vmnic4  0000:07:00.0 igbn        Up   1000Mbps   Full   b8:ca:3a:5e:cc:0c 1500   Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection
vmnic5  0000:07:00.1 igbn        Down 0Mbps      Half   b8:ca:3a:5e:cc:0d 1500   Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection
vusb0   Pseudo       cdce        Up   100Mbps    Full   74:86:7a:cf:f2:97 1500   DellTM iDRAC Virtual NIC USB Device
[root@esx-node-02:~] esxcli software vib list | grep -i ixgbe
ixgben                         1.7.17-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847            INT       VMwareCertified     2019-11-14
net-ixgbe                      4.5.3-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585             INT       VMwareCertified     2019-11-14

and

[root@esx-node-03:~] esxcfg-scsidevs -a
vmhba0  vmw_ahci          link-n/a  sata.vmhba0                             (0000:00:1f.2) Intel Corporation Patsburg SATA RAID Controller
vmhba1  intel-nvme        link-n/a  pscsi.vmhba1                            (0000:41:00.0) Intel Corporation DC P3600 AIC
vmhba64 iscsi_vmk         online    iqn.1998-01.de.noellkrc:esx-node-03     iSCSI Software Adapter
vmhba32 vmkusb            link-n/a  usb.vmhba32                             () USB
vmhba33 vmkusb            link-n/a  usb.vmhba33                             () USB
[root@esx-node-03:~] esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvme
intel-nvme                     1.2.0.7-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847          INT      VMwareCertified     2019-11-14
nvme                           1.2.2.28-1vmw.650.3.96.13932383       VMW      VMwareCertified     2019-11-14
vmware-esx-esxcli-nvme-plugin  1.2.0.36-3.96.13932383                VMware   VMwareCertified     2019-11-14

[baber]

Thanks. what about this ?

2 - Do I had to use follow link from Driver-tools tab for get latest drivers that are compatiable for esxi 6.7 ?

Download VMware vSphere

3- There some drivers also here fo vsan now which driver had to install ? Do I had to use Driver-Tools tab in vMware vsphere or VSAN vMware ?

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info?slug=datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsan/6_7#drivers...

[IRIX201110141]

Grrrr... i told you that i  answered to the first part.

The second one is the harder part and answer your question at the and. To find find the right and certified driver you need the ID of your device. Its also the ID which makes a driver responsible for a device. The ESXi drivers contains a whitelist of the IDs. Yes it is possible that 2 or more drivers feels responsible than murphys law will tell you that the wrong one wins.

The VMware Knowledge Base (scroll down) describes what i mean and how to get the ID. But it can be hard if you have special devices or a dozen of similar ones and ESXi can give to much information.  As a Dell User i use information from my iDRAC HW Inventory or better from the created SupportAssist/Diagnistic HTML TSR Report.  The IDs for NICs are very easy to find there.

In the upper right of VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search you have to insert the Vendor ID, Device ID .... and it will guide you to  page of all supportet Drivers for that device and often also the information which HW Firmware is needed. You'll get the info if  VMware deliver the driver, Vendor or async which means a updated Version is available since the VMware vanilla Install CD. Most of the time a direct download link is provided. On every driver page you will find the IDs again.

VMware GSS will do the same if you call them when it looks like to a driver related issue.

Again its a combination of ESXi Version + HW Firmware + Driver which is testet/certified and using the "latest" doesnt brings the best result.  Working in this field since 2008 it feels easier in the past as today at least if you are responsible for a lot of similar Dell Servers with all kind of Intel,Broadcom,QLogic HBAs.  No OMIVV can helps but its not the bullet proof solution

Regards,
Joerg