vSphere 6 with Intel X710 NIC

[CKF1028]

Hello,

My hardware specification is as follows, all bought from Dell.

Server：Dell PowerEdge R730

NIC：Intel X710 DP 10Gb DA/SFP+, + I350 DP 1Gb Ethernet, Network Daughter Card.

After ESXi 6.0 installation, there's a issue should be solved.

1、After install ESXi 6.0 #2494585 via Dell customized image, I can see there're x2 10GbE(vmnic-0,1) and x2 1GbE(vmnic-3,4)

Dell Customized Image：VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0-2494585.x86_64-Dell_Customized-A00

2、After install ESXi 6.0 #2809209 via the latest VMware image, there're no vmnic-0,1 and only show vmnic-3,4

By the way, I also try to install ESXi 5.5 #2403361 via VMware image, it's being the same problem.

VMware ESXi 6.0 Image Version：VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201507001-2809209.x86_64

VMware ESXi 5.5 Image Version：VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201501001-2403361.x86_64

It seems the latest VMware image ESXi 6.0 #2809209 or ESXi 5.5 #2403361 can't recognize Intel X710 NIC.

But according to VMware compatibility guide, Intel X710 had been supported by VMware from ESXi 5.1 to ESXi 6.0.

Would you please give me some suggestions to solve this issue ?

Thanks for your kindly reply.

[CoolRam]

So conclusion is this adapter is not recognized in the vsphere 5.5 and latest vsphere 6.0 update.

In both the case please do check you driver is also updated related to the dell customized image.

Please check the vmkernel log . from the support prospective R730 is supported for both 5.5 and 6.0

[sdnbtech]

A01 is out with two new Intel partner drivers and one updated Intel partner async driver.

Qlogic Drivers(Available at vmware.com)

====================================

UPD qlnativefc - 1.1.39.0->2.1.10.1

UPD qla4xxx - 644.55.34.0->644.55.35.0

Intel Drivers(Available at vmware.com)

================================

NEW igb - 5.1.0vmw->5.2.10

NEW ixgbe - VMware inbox->3.21.6

UPD i40e - 1.2.22->1.2.48

Emulex Drivers(Available at vmware.com)

===================================

UPD elxnet - 10.4.203.7->10.4.203.9

Dell PERC Controller Drivers(Available at vmware.com)

============================================

NEW lsi_mr3 - 6.606.12.00

NEW megaraid_sas - 6.804.60.00

[Simon_HamiltonW]

What SFP+ do you have installed in the cards?

There was another thread on card not showing up with non-supported SFP+ fitted, but working all the same.

[Erik_Bussink]

Intel X710/XL710 has now been updated to 1.3.38

This release includes the i40e VMware ESX Driver for Intel(R) Ethernet Controllers X710 and XL710 family

Driver version: 1.3.38

Supported ESXi releases: 5.5 and 6.0

New hardware supported:

- Add new devices support for specific OEMs

Bug fixes:

- Fixed various tx timeout issue due to netdev watchdog timer

- Removed 100Mbps support from 1GBASE-T devices

- Improved NVM update performance

- Various changes to improve performance

New Features:

- Added VxLAN support which includes Tx/Rx and TSO checksum offload and MACs and VNI filtering

- Added NPAR/VMDq co-existance support

Known issues and workarounds:

- The maximum number of VFs that you can instantiate depends on the interrupt vectors available. Please look at the info from the link below

  http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.networking.doc%2FGUID-DA8506...

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-I40E-1338&productId=353