Intel I350 NIC not working on ESXi 6.0 build-2715440

[rengan]

Hi,

UPDATE: Formatting seems crappy, will try to sort it out.

I've installed a 4-port Intel I350 NIC on my home built ESX, and followed the steps here:

VMware KB:     Network cards not detected on an ESXi/ESX host

I've also read this thread: ESXi not recognizing Intel NIC

So, first I downloaded, and installed https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-IGB-531&productId=353&downl...

That din't work.

So I installed a older version, this one: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-IGB-530&productId=353&downl...

So, the command: lspci -v | grep -A1 -i ethernet

Gives this output: (always gave that output)

[root@localhost:~] lspci -v | grep -A1 -i ethernet

0000:04:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]

         Class 0200: 8086:1521

--

0000:04:00.1 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]

         Class 0200: 8086:1521

--

0000:04:00.2 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic2]

         Class 0200: 8086:1521

--

0000:04:00.3 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic3]

         Class 0200: 8086:1521

--

0000:06:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Motherboard [vmnic4]

         Class 0200: 10ec:8168

If i run this command: vmkload_mod -l | grep igb

I recieves this output:

[root@localhost:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep igb

igb                      0    176

Still can't find any more NICs in my vSphere client.

So, I check some logs, and do this: cat /var/log/vmkernel.log | grep vmnic

And the output, you might ask? Well:

2016-01-06T06:25:05.992Z cpu3:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.0 named 'vmnic0' (was '')

2016-01-06T06:25:05.998Z cpu3:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.3 named 'vmnic3' (was '')

2016-01-06T06:25:06.011Z cpu3:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.2 named 'vmnic2' (was '')

2016-01-06T06:25:06.022Z cpu3:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.1 named 'vmnic1' (was '')

2016-01-06T06:25:06.028Z cpu3:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:06:00.0 named 'vmnic4' (was '')

2016-01-06T06:25:06.686Z cpu7:33147)VMK_PCI: 392: Device 0000:06:00.0 name: vmnic4

2016-01-06T06:25:06.687Z cpu7:33147)Uplink: 7252: Device vmnic4 not yet opened

2016-01-06T06:25:06.687Z cpu7:33147)DMA: 646: DMA Engine 'vmnic4' created using mapper 'DMANull'.

2016-01-06T06:25:06.687Z cpu7:33147)Uplink: 9261: Opening device vmnic4

2016-01-06T06:25:06.688Z cpu3:32822)<6>vmnic4: 0x410006c10000, fc:aa:14:e0:31:b7, IRQ 28

2016-01-06T06:25:06.757Z cpu3:32822)IntrCookie: 1852: cookie 0x1c moduleID 4109 <vmnic4> exclusive, flags 0x25

2016-01-06T06:25:09.774Z cpu4:33106)<6>r8168: vmnic4: link up

2016-01-06T06:25:12.748Z cpu6:33175)Net: 2444: connected Shadow of vmnic4  to null config, portID 0x2000003

2016-01-06T07:23:03.997Z cpu4:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.0 named 'vmnic0' (was '')

2016-01-06T07:23:04.002Z cpu4:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.3 named 'vmnic3' (was '')

2016-01-06T07:23:04.013Z cpu4:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.2 named 'vmnic2' (was '')

2016-01-06T07:23:04.020Z cpu4:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:04:00.1 named 'vmnic1' (was '')

2016-01-06T07:23:04.031Z cpu4:33127)PCI: 1145: 0000:06:00.0 named 'vmnic4' (was '')

2016-01-06T07:23:04.700Z cpu1:33147)VMK_PCI: 392: Device 0000:06:00.0 name: vmnic4

2016-01-06T07:23:04.700Z cpu1:33147)Uplink: 7252: Device vmnic4 not yet opened

2016-01-06T07:23:04.700Z cpu1:33147)DMA: 646: DMA Engine 'vmnic4' created using mapper 'DMANull'.

2016-01-06T07:23:04.700Z cpu1:33147)Uplink: 9261: Opening device vmnic4

2016-01-06T07:23:04.701Z cpu0:32822)<6>vmnic4: 0x410006502000, fc:aa:14:e0:31:b7, IRQ 28

2016-01-06T07:23:04.770Z cpu0:32822)IntrCookie: 1852: cookie 0x1c moduleID 4109 <vmnic4> exclusive, flags 0x25

2016-01-06T07:23:07.787Z cpu7:33106)<6>r8168: vmnic4: link up

2016-01-06T07:23:10.741Z cpu5:33175)Net: 2444: connected Shadow of vmnic4  to null config, portID 0x2000003

And:

[root@localhost:/var/log] cat /var/log/vmkernel.log | grep 8086:1521

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.0 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.0 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.1 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.1 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.2 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.2 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.3 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.072 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.3 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.0 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.0 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.1 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.1 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.2 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.2 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1419: 0000:04:00.3 8086:1521 8086:0001 discovered

0:00:00:05.070 cpu0:32768)PCI: 1109: 0000:04:00.3 8086:1521 8086:0001 added

Also did this: cat hostd.log | grep vmnic

Output:

[root@localhost:/var/log] cat hostd.log | grep vmnic

-->    eventTypeId = "esx.clear.net.vmnic.linkstate.up",

-->          value = "vmnic4"

2016-01-06T06:28:10.003Z
info hostd[41581B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr] Event 20 :
Physical NIC vmnic4 linkstate is up.

-->    eventTypeId = "esx.clear.net.vmnic.linkstate.up",

-->          value = "vmnic4"

2016-01-06T07:26:08.002Z
info hostd[5A781B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.ha-eventmgr] Event 21 :
Physical NIC vmnic4 linkstate is up.

So, I'm lost. I don't know how to sort this out, and everything would be helpfull at this time.

Hope some of you know the answer!

Best regards

Robert

[Paltelkalpesh · Accepted solution]

Kindly follow below process, which might be helpful for you.

1. Download the “net55-r8168-8.039.01-napi-offline_bundle.zip” file (ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 only) Download link for offline-bundle at the bottom of this page: https://vibsdepot.v-front.de/wiki/index.php/Net-igb

2. Download ESXi-Customizer-v2.7.2. Even though it is meant for ESXi 4.1/5.1/5.5 it works perfectly fine with ESXi 6.0 and created a usable iso.

3. Use “unetbootin-windows-608.exe” to install the generated iso to a USB disk http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

[rengan]

Hi,

Thanks for quick answer, but doesn't this mean I have to reinstall ESXi?
I'm quite new to this, and I don't want to screw this one up!

Thanks again.

Best regards

Robert

[rengan]

Paltelkalpesh,

Sorry for the delay. I've done what you said, and it worked like a charm!

But, the only problem i ran into was it doesn't support Win10, but that was a easy walk-around with a virtual Win7 client and so on.

Thanks for all your help!

Best Regards

Robert

[kbulgrien4freed]

Aside from the risks and potential issues of downloading a modified driver and installing it to a server...  a modified driver is not required to resolve this issue!

Download the Intel Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility for the I350-T2  (and other) NICs.

Only one of PREBOOT.EXE or Preboot.tar.gz is required, but for purposes of this post, the Linux Preboot.tar.gz is suggested as it was successfully used with a CentOS 7 1503 Live KDE DVD to resolve the ESXi issue without installing a modified driver.  The download site used was:

     https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19186/Ethernet-Intel-Ethernet-Connections-Boot-Utility-Pre...

The ESXi server was put into maintenance mode and shut down.  The Live DVD was booted, and the downloaded Preboot.tar.gz placed in /tmp/Preboot.  From there:

# cd /tmp/Preboot

# tar -xzf /Preboot.tar.gz

# cd APPS/BootUtil/Linux_x64

# chmod a+x bootutil64e

# ./bootutil64e -ALL -UP=PXE -FILE=../BootIMG.FLB

Ignore an innocuous error message:

Connection to QV driver failed - please reinstall it!

For any port that has PXE boot enabled, a prompt may occur:

Create restore image of NIC1 before proceeding? (Y)es or (N)o?

It is acceptable to back up the flash before programming, however the backup file will be lost if not copied to external media.

Sample run:

# ./bootutil64e -ALL -UP=PXE -FILE=../BootIMG.FLB

Connection to QV driver failed - please reinstall it!

Intel(R) Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility

BootUtil version 1.6.39.1

Copyright (C) 2003-2017 Intel Corporation

Programming flash on port 1 with flash firmward image

Create restore image of NIC1 before proceeding? (Y)es or (N)o? y

Saving flash firmware image on port 1 to file 15214003.FLB...saved

/

Flash update successful

Skipping port 2 (shared flash with previous port)\

Port Network Address Location Series  WOL Flash Firmware ... Version

==== =============== ======== ======= === ============== ... =======

  1  xxxxxxxxxxxx    xx:xx.x  Gigabit NO  PXE                1.5.04

  2  xxxxxxxxxxxx    xx:xx.x  Gigabit N/A FLASH Disabled

# scp 15214003.FLB kbulgrien@192.168.127.1:tmp

# reboot

Problem solved in ESXi!