Software FCOE Adapter not showing up

[Flensburg08]

Hi,

I am trying to configure a new ESX Server (Dell R740).

We are using ESXi 6.5U1 where the server is connected to a Cisco Nexus 5548 NX-OS 7.0

There I have a problem to configure a software FCOE-Adapter.

As NICs I use both the Intel X710 and a Qlogioc QL41112 card.

I created a vswitch with MTU-size of 9000 and tried to create the Software FCOE-Adapter via GUI and CLI (esxcli fcoe nic discover -n vmnic4).

My problem is that it seems that the FCOE-Adapter is created successfully (no error messages) but the dapter doesn't show up in the list of storage adapters.

I have this behavior with both cards.

Also per CLI (esxcli fcoe adpater list or esxcfg-scsidevs -a) there is no Software FCOE-Adapter listed.

I should say that our Nexus are currently not configured for Jumbo frames but could that be the reason for this behaviour?

(I will change that in the near future if I have a maintenance window).

Do someone have any hints how to troubleshoot this further?

BTW: what is the difference between the Intel i40e and i40en drivers?

PS: In my older ESX6.5u Servers I have a Intel X520 Card where it was no problem to create a Software FCOE Adapter.

Thanks

Peter

[mhampto]

After the discover command run:

esxcli fcoe adapter list

For the FCoE adapter, you see an output similar to:

vmhba35

Source MAC: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

FCF MAC: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xy

VNPort MAC: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xz

Physical NIC: vmnic8

User Priority: 3

VLAN id: 2008

There could be an issue as the packets outgoing would be dropped at the switch that is not able to handle the Jumbo frames.

[Flensburg08]

Hi,

the command

esxcli fcoe adapter list

results in an empty output. There are no adapters listed.

If I execute the discover command a second time I get the following message:

esxcli fcoe nic discover -n vmnic4

Fcoe device is already created on PNIC: vmnic4

How can I further investigate, where (ESXi or Nexus 5548 switch) the problem is?

Is it important that the configuration of Jumbo Packets on the switch is correct in the state of creating the Software FCOE-Adapter?

Thanks

Peter