Back in May I reported on problems with ESXi 4.1 and the Emulex OneConnect CNA that is built into HP's G7 blade servers.
If you now try to install ESXi 5.0 on such a hardware you will have a strong déjà vu: The be2net driver that is available right now for ESXi 5.0 is not really functioning due to "VLAN tagging issues". HP has published an advisory on this stating that an updated driver (that should fix these issues) is "currently in the certification process" and will be made available in "Q4 2011".
Okay, I won't update our production hosts to ESXi 5.0 that soon anyway, but I just wanted to install it on some spare blades for testing and evaluation. Too bad ... waiting for a fix again ...
Update (2011-10-27):
HP has now updated the advisory and published an updated firmware that fixes the VLAN handling problems with ESXi 5.0 if it is used together with the be2net driver 4.0.355.1.
Be sure that you read the release notes of the firmware! It looks like it is an emergency/workaround release that leaves many issues unresolved. A firmware version that you can really trust for production will probably be available mid-November.
Update (2012-04-16):
In the meantime it looks like all problems have been fixed with newer firmware and driver versions. Please refer to this newer post of mine!
Andreas,
ReplyDeleteI used to be able to create custom drivers for ESXi 4.1 by compiling against the open source ESXi files.. It appears these are missing from ESXi 5.0. Do you know where to find them? How are people creating limited use (non-commercial) drivers for ESXi 5.0???
Hi,
ReplyDeleteplease avoid commenting anonymously. Your question is also not related to the blog post that you are commenting.
I suggest that you join the forums at vm-help.com to address your question there.
Thanks
Andreas
VMware has recently published an official fix for this.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007675
Summary:
This patch updates the net-be2net VIB to resolve an issue where, when using vSphere 5.0 with Emulex BE2/BE3 NICs (be2net driver) in a HP FlexFabric/Flex-10 or IBM Virtual Fabric Adapter (VFA) environment, connectivity may not work properly on Windows VMs or the server when VLANs are configured.