Installing HBA Drivers for ESXi Hosts

[Zade]

We currently have a plan to setup a new vCenter system with our spare essentials plus license, Emulex HBA cards in the DELL gear which we will be making our ESXi hosts.

Can anyone recommend how to configure the HBAS within ESXi, has anyone previously installed Emulex HBA drivers into a ESXi host?

Setting the ESXi host up shouldnt be a problem but it is just installing the drivers into ESXi which I am puzzled about.

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

Which version of ESXi you will install ? Check the VMware HCL for IO Devices and if you HBA is compatible, try make a default installation and maybe the ESXi will recognize and load the drivers without the need to make any additional installation.

VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search

[Zade]

We will be installing ESXi 5.5, and the Emulex driver appears to be in the compatibility list

AJ762A - 81E Emulex LPe12000-HP Single-Channel 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBA for HP

Thank you for the help