Need advice for Intel Ethernet Controller X540-AT2

[JJBailey]

Hello,

I'm having no luck whatsoever getting a X540-AT2 card running on ESXi 6.0.0U2.  I've tried several different driver installs, the last one being net-ixgbe_3.21.6-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203.vib.  This is a fresh install, driver added.

esxi6:/# esxcfg-nics -l

Name    PCI          Driver      Link Speed     Duplex MAC Address       MTU    Description                  

vmnic0  0000:01:00.0 e1000e      Up   1000Mbps  Full   00:25:90:2a:9e:82 1500   Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

vmnic1  0000:02:00.0 e1000e      Up   1000Mbps  Full   00:25:90:2a:9e:83 1500   Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

esxi6:/# lspci | grep vmnic

0000:01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]

0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]

0000:05:00.0 Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic2]

0000:05:00.1 Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic3]

The driver was downloaded from VMware.  Do I need a different driver, or does this card not work at all?

Thanks,

Jack

[Muthur85]

Hi Bailey,

1. 1.In the BIOS for the S2600GZ there should be a setting under Advanced => PCI Configuration => Memory Mapped I/O above 4 GB

Is that set to Enabled? If so, try setting it to Disabled and see if the ethernet controllers become available to ESXi.

1. 2.After Please try AHCI Capable SATA Controller to ENHANCED mode and switched the SAS/SATA Capable Controller back to INTEL(R) RSTe, the drives get successfully recognized by the hypervisor

Regards,

Muthukumar.R

[JJBailey]

Hi Muthur85,

The card is installed in a Supermicro, X8DTT-H.  The BIOS is AMI, and I don't see the options you suggest.

Thanks,

Jack

[AdilArif]

Hello Jack,

Is the card listed in the VMware HCL guide?

[JJBailey]

Hi AdilArif,

Good question.  I don't know about the HCL, though I have seen discussion in which people said it works, and ESXi has a driver included, version 3.7 something.  That particular download page says the driver works for this card.

I'm think it's a BIOS issue, either I don't have the correct settings, or the version is too low.  Some of Supermicro's web pages say 3.0 is required, some say 2.0 is required.  The latest version on the Supermicro site for my board is 2.1c which is the version installed.

Thanks,

Jack

[AdilArif]

Can you provide me the details as per the KB article for the Network adapters? I will try and look if it is supported in the HCL.

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=10272...

[JJBailey]

Hello,

How's this page?

VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search

Thanks,

Jack

[JJBailey · Accepted solution]

Update: I ran through the compatibility matrix after running these:

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

0000:01:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]

         Class 0200: 8086:10d3

--

0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic1]

         Class 0200: 8086:10d3

--

0000:05:00.0 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic2]

         Class 0200: 8086:1528

--

0000:05:00.1 Ethernet controller Network controller: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller X540-AT2 [vmnic3]

         Class 0200: 8086:1528

[root@localhost:~] lspci -n | grep 8086:1528

0000:05:00.0 Class 0200: 8086:1528 [vmnic2]

0000:05:00.1 Class 0200: 8086:1528 [vmnic3]

I ended up here:

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-IXGBE-4.4.1&productId=353

I installed the driver on 5.5.  Checking vmkernel.log I found this:

2016-05-05T05:23:50.921Z cpu13:33463)Loading module ixgbe ...

2016-05-05T05:23:50.924Z cpu13:33463)Elf: 1861: module ixgbe has license GPL

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)module heap: Initial heap size: 102400, max heap size: 68476928                                                           

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)vmklnx_module_mempool_init: Mempool max 68476928 being used for module: 4124

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)vmk_MemPoolCreate passed for 25 pages                                                                                     

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)skb_mem_info mempool for module ixgbe created - max size 134217728                                                        

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)module heap: using memType 0

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)module heap vmklnx_ixgbe: creation succeeded. id = 0x410a03ab1000                                                         

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)<6>Intel(R) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver - version 3.7.13.7.14iov-NAPI

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)<6>Copyright (c) 1999-2011 Intel Corporation.                                                                             

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)PCI: driver ixgbe is looking for devices                                                                                  

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)DMA: 612: DMA Engine 'vmklnxpci-0:5:0.0' created using mapper 'DMANull'.

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)DMA: 612: DMA Engine 'vmklnxpci-0:5:0.0' created using mapper 'DMANull'.

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)DMA: 612: DMA Engine 'vmklnxpci-0:5:0.0' created using mapper 'DMANull'.                                                  

2016-05-05T05:23:50.927Z cpu13:33463)DMA: 657: DMA Engine 'vmklnxpci-0:5:0.0' destroyed.

2016-05-05T05:23:51.109Z cpu13:33463)<6>ixgbe: Enabled/Disable CNA set to 1

2016-05-05T05:23:51.109Z cpu13:33463)<6>ixgbe: 0000:05:00.0: ixgbe_check_options: CNA enabled, 1 queues

2016-05-05T05:23:51.109Z cpu13:33463)<6>ixgbe: 0000:05:00.0: ixgbe_check_options: Packet split is not supported.                                               

2016-05-05T05:23:51.143Z cpu13:33463)<3>ixgbe 0000:05:00.0: The EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid

2016-05-05T05:23:51.143Z cpu13:33463)WARNING: vmklinux: pci_announce_device:1488: PCI: driver ixgbe probe failed for device 0000:05:00.0

There you have it.  Looks like a bad EEPROM/card.