Home > ESX, Flex-10, HP, VMware > New Broadcom bnx2x Nic Driver 1.60 is out

New Broadcom bnx2x Nic Driver 1.60 is out

November 12th, 2010

My previous post raised the issue of ESX 4.1 and Broadcom Nic drivers and advised you to stick with 4.0 until it is sorted out.

There were two issues.  Losing support for the SmartLink / DDC functionality used by Flex-10.  The workaround is to use Beacon Probing which was at least a solution even though a massive step backwards.

Far more serious was a PSOD issue caused by IP checksumming.  The workaround was to disable IP checksumming support but the fix didn’t persist across reboots. Not having a real fix was the reason I recommended not going with 4.1.

Looks like a new Broadcom driver has been released by VMware, Broadcom bnx2x driver 1.60.

Unfortunately there’s nothing out yet to indicate whether this does solve either of the two problems and what others may be introduced.  All I can hope is that VMware, Broadcom and HP worked together and have finally released a driver that doesn’t cause any PSODs and fully supports DDC/SmartLink for ESX 4.1 (as it did perfectly well with version 1.48 on ESX 4.0).

http://download3.vmware.com/software/esx/vmware-esx-drivers-bnx2x_400.1.60.50.v41.2-cnic_400.1.10.2m.v41.1-bnx2i_400.1.9.1k.v41.1-1vmw.0.0.00000.320302.iso

The README has the following installation instruction options.

VMware ESX 4.0 Driver CD

Use the VMware ESX driver CD to install drivers on ESX or ESXi installations.

You can use the driver CD in several ways:
A) To install drivers for devices as part of a new ESX installation
B) To update existing drivers or install new drivers for an existing ESX
installation with esxupdate
C) To update existing drivers or install new drivers for an existing ESX or
ESXi installation with vihostupdate

A) To install drivers for devices as part of a new ESX installation:
(for ESX only)

Note: This procedure has changed since the 3.5 version of driver CD.  You will
need the ESX installation DVD to begin.

1.  Place the ESX installation DVD in the DVD drive of the host.
2.  Restart the host.
3.  Accept the terms of the license agreement.
4.  Select a keyboard type.
5.  When prompted for Custom Drivers, select Yes to install custom drivers.
6.  Click Add to eject the ESX installation DVD.
7.  Place the driver CD in the DVD drive of the ESX host.
8.  Select driver module to import drivers to the ESX host.
9.  Click Next to continue. A dialog box displays the following message:
Load the system drivers.
10. Click Yes. After loading the driver module, continue installing ESX. After
the drivers are installed you are prompted to swap the driver CD with the
ESX installation DVD.

B) To update or add drivers on existing ESX installations using esxupdate:
(for ESX only)

1. Power on the ESX host and log into an account with administrator capability.
2. Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the ESX host.
3. Mount the driver CD.
4. Navigate to <cd mount point>/offline-bundle/ and locate the
<offline-bundle>.zip file.
5. Run the esxupdate command to install drivers using the offline bundle.

esxupdate –bundle=<offline-bundle>.zip update

C) To update or add drivers on existing ESX and ESXi installations using
vihostupdate: (for both ESX and ESXi)

1. Power on the ESX or ESXi host.
2. Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the host where either the vSphere
CLI package is installed or vMA is hosted.
3. Mount the driver CD.
4. Navigate to <cd mount point>/offline-bundle/ and locate the
<offline-bundle>.zip file.
5. Run the vihostupdate command to install drivers using the offline bundle.

vihostupdate <conn_options> –install –bundle <offline-bundle>.zip

(For more details on vihostupdate, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface
Installation and Reference Guide.)

Categories: ESX, Flex-10, HP, VMware Tags: , , ,
  1. Tom
    November 13th, 2010 at 03:56 | #1

    According to this HP blog, it seems the 1.60 driver fixes the SmartLink problem. Doesn’t mention the PSOD issue.

    http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Eye-on-Blades-Blog-Trends-in/Driver-Versions-in-HP-supplied-VMware-ESX-ESXi-images/ba-p/82926

  2. Michael
    November 19th, 2010 at 22:07 | #2

    @Tom
    I am running the BL460’s with the Flex 10 and the Nexus 1000v. I have 2 clusters one in my Montreal DC and the other in my London DC. My Montreal DC has been running fine and i have ESX 4.1, Broadcom driver 1.54, VC 2.32, and OA 2.60 and the Nexus 1000v-4.0.4.SV1.3a. I haven’t had any issues with this environment. (knock on wood) My other environment in London had the PSOD’s but i was running a higher VC firmware. So in London i upgraded to the latest firmware for the VC and OA of the chassis and i disabled the IP Checksumming on the hosts and i put a script in the startup of the host so that it would remain constant over reboots and that did stabilize the environment. The 1.60 driver has been released and i have installed it on 2 of the hosts in London and they both are experiencing consistent network disconnects. I will lose connectivity anytime i try to do anything that creates a lot of network traffic like a Vmotion. At this point i am reluctant to put anything prod in London until they resolve this issue. I am working with Vmware now to see if its an issue with 1.60 and the nexus 1000v. Wish me luck.

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