QLogic HBA Driver with ESXi 5.1

[sel57]

My Qlogic hba's are using an old driver. How do I get them to use the default driver included with the ESXi image?

VMware KB: Default QLogic HBA driver/firmware versions for ESXi

I just upgraded my hosts from ESXi 5.0 to ESXi 5.1 and one of my hosts won't boot and it's because it's hanging on initializing the hba's (when I unplug fiber, it boots fine), so I'd like to upgrade the drivers, but I thought it would automatically use the version included.

Thanks!

[sel57]

Actually, now I'm more confused. On boot, when initializing the hba's, it says driver is 1.08, but when I ssh to host and run more /proc/scsi/qla2xxx/x I get Driver version 934.5.20.0-1vmw, neither of which seem to match the version in the link I found (posted in previous email).

[jedijeff]

On post you are probably seeing the bios version of the driver. Did you get the latest Qlogic driver from the vmware 3rd party drivers page, for your version of esx? what model HBA do you have as well?

[sel57]

Hi jedijeff-

Yep, you are correct. I realized that I was comparing apples and oranges after doing a bit more googling. Thanks for clarifying as well. This host is running the Dell custom ESXi 5.1 U1. I have the latest drivers for my QLogic hba's installed. I think I followed a link from vmware that led me to a QLogic download site for the drivers. I updated everything on the server I could through the lifecycle controller yesterday as well and I still have the same issue. This is an issue I had on another Dell R820 host late last year that I worked with Dell on, and they could not solve. Even though there's no apparent issue with the cards functionally, I ended up swapping out cards on the old one, rezoned both, and it started working again. I was just hoping to avoid that, so I thought I would update all the drivers and firmware and hope for the best.

Now I have the same issue again on a different host. I'll have to start the process over again and contact Dell today.

I know this isn't ESXi related, but for anyone else finding this thread, this is specifically an issue with QLogic hba's in a Dell Poweredge (R820 in my case) where the system will hang at Initializing firmware interfaces for one (or both) of the QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter. If you unplug the fibre from the cards, the system boots fine. When you plug the fibre back in, it hangs during the boot process. Once the machine has booted, you can plug back in and the cards function fine.

[jedijeff]

I have 2 esx55 clusters with R820s(the majority of our clusters are system x though). But I don't have any qlogics in them,,,emulex. 

You should not get redirected to a Qlogic page for drivers, so maybe you are looking at the wrong link. You need to goto the "Drivers and Tools" section of the esx5 product. and then open "Driver CDs". I just did that for esxi5.1 and there is a Qlogic driver--supplied by vmware. not redireting to Qlogic.

Also are your Qlogic cards maybe set to boot to san---ie is bios enabled on them??

[sel57]

Sorry, you also asked what model hba. It's a qle2460 by the way.

[sel57]

I'll go look for the drivers again and reinstall. I honestly don't remember how I got there, but i'm pretty sure I was at the QLogic site downloading for ESXi 5.1. I'll check for them on VMware.

Boot to san...I really don't know. I don't think this issue happened before (we've rebooted previously without issue), but it's still worth checking that out.

Thanks!

[sel57]

Neither cards are set to boot to san, and the driver version I have is 934.5.29.0-1, which actually appears newer than the latest I found on the VMware site which was 934.5.26.0-1. Doesn't seem to want to let me install it though. Keeps skipping it. Maybe it recognizes it's an older version or something.

(Re-)Opening a Dell case now.

[erikschorr]

sel57 wrote:

Neither cards are set to boot to san, and the driver version I have is 934.5.29.0-1, which actually appears newer than the latest I found on the VMware site which was 934.5.26.0-1. Doesn't seem to want to let me install it though. Keeps skipping it. Maybe it recognizes it's an older version or something.

(Re-)Opening a Dell case now.

Sel57, did you ever solve your problem?  I'm having the same issue with my M620s.  Disconnecting the FC or un-zoning the HBA makes it boot, but otherwise it hangs after:

Initializing firmware interfaces...

QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter (driver 2.00, firmware 4.04.000)

*hang*

(There are two HBAs in each of my systems, but for the ones that hang during boot, it doesn't get past the first adapter.

[sel57]

I think Dell just replaced the card(s) for me, I rezoned, and everything worked again. I didn't even compare the firmware/driver versions on the new cards to what I was running on the old, because once it was working, I was just happy to leave them alone.