Trying to update ESXi NIC driver with vSphere CLI or vMA

[Navi201110141]

Hello,

I've been struggling with an issue on my Dell PowerEdge 2900 for sometime now. The server is running ESXi 4.1 (installable), I lose vShphere and SSH connection to the server and have to then restart the management network to reconnect (this has to be done periodically). There is no "Tech Support Timeout" and I can ping the server at all times with no interuption. I traced this issue to this KB article http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1029070&sl...

The workaround failed as after the server's reboot it still says the module is "enabled". So I've been trying to update the driver (driver is posted on the KB article), with both vSphere CLI and vMA. When I run:

vihostupdate.pl --server <server IP> --install --bundle BCM-bnx2-2.0.15g.8.v41.1-offline_bundle-325733.zip

It returns the following error:

Error encountered:

Message          - need more than one value to unpack

vSphere SDK for Perl version: 4.1

Script 'vihostupdate.pl' version: 4.1

I get the same error in vMA with the "vihostupdate" command. The permissions were changed on the .zip and I've tried unzipping the driver to run the .zip within it but still no luck. Let me know if there are any additional details I can provide, any help would be appreciated.

[bulletprooffool]

Try getting a fresh copy of the bundle (in case it is corrupt)

Also, I have generally just specified -i -b rather than -install -bundle

Lastly, perhaps drop your creds?

vihostupdate.pl –server <server name or ip>  
     -username <root or other user> -password <user password>
     -i –b <update filename>