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I have had the pleasure today of presenting at the second  UK VMware User Group. at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, near Birmingham.

My presentation was titled vSphere Networking and Converged IO with Blade Servers.

I discussed how converged networking incorporating 10GE and FCoE is become more important as we try to utilise bandwidth more efficiently which is especially important with blade servers which have limited IO expansion. I explained the architecture of Cisco UCS and HP Virtual Connect as examples and how they can work with vSphere.

I went through some of the IO convergence options and also how to still protect your traffic by using either physical or logical separation or software.

No need to repeat everything else in this blog post, you may as well have a look at the presentation and best of all plan to attend a VMUG near you!

HP Blade chassis are integral to many IT infrastructure deployments. Within each chassis there are multiple components: for example Onboard Administrators, network switches running maybe Virtual Connect and the blade servers themselves which contain SSD/HDD drives, Nic or HBA cards, iLOs and motherboards.

All of these components require firmware to run and many of them are from different manufactures such as Nic cards which can be made by Broadcom, Intel or Emulex. Managing this firmware can be a frustrating and time consuming process which adds another management layer separate from the Operating System, applications and even HP drivers installed on the actual blade servers.

HP has previously had a very disparate way of managing it’s firmware and drivers. Different firmware and drivers had to be updated with different tools and was often very little or no coordination between the different updates causing any number of issues.

HP seems to have responded to customer frustration and is now coordinating their firmware and driver update procedures.

Read more…

HP has released a new firmware version 4.1.450.7 of its Emulex OneConnect 10Gb Ethernet Controller which is used in HP G7 and G8 Blades.

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4118472&prodNameId=4118473&swEnvOID=54&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-108044-1

This is a standalone image so not part of the HP Service Pack for ProLiant 2012.08.0 release which is unfortunate.

The new firmware release notes state the following:

Added support for the following operating systems:

• RHEL 6.3

Resolved Issues from Firmware Version 4.1.402.20:

• BladeEngine Firmware
• SR IOV: Unable to ping IPV6 from DUT VF to Peer VF
• Running ethtool with BE3 takes longer than expected after cable pull
• FAT_CFG_SNAPSHOT command timed out
• Out of Order CQEs
• Data integrity Issue noted during short duration cable pulls
• W2K8 graceful shutdown failed under B120i with NC552
• BL460c Gen8 with 554FLB Unable to PXE boot
• 1Gb LOM ports in Windows do not come back up when switch is power cycled
• RSCN is not generated by switch when a driver restarts 10. 7 second delay in _CARD_ATTRIBUTES command
• BE3 read sfp ioctl returns bad data on twinax cables that BE2 returns good data with
• 554FLR FCoE Path Multipath Recovery Fail SLES11 sp1 x64
• Out of order Abort completion and IO completion CQE
• Received CQE_EXT_INVALID_RPI in abort completion of ELS command
• Correction to OCSD to prevent DMA conflicts with LPFC driver

PXE BIOS

• PXE issue on Gen 8 blades hang at gPXE prompt when set for one time PXE boot.

UEFI iSCSI

• EFI: CHAP name only accepts 6 to 10 characters
• EFI: iSCSI name is case sensitive

I’ve updated my post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites

Virtual Connect

HP has released its latest Virtual Connect Firmware which is used in HP c-Class Chassis with Flex-10, FlexFabric, VC Enet and FC Module interconnect modules.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-d3c2c57d850f4f4bb9af74c2d6

This release adds support for some new hardware:

• HP ProLiant BL660c Gen8 Server series
• HP ProLiant WS460c Gen8 Workstation series
• HP Virtual Connect Flex-10/10D Module
• HP 7m C-series Active Copper SFP+ cables (QK701A)
• HP 10m C-series Active Copper SFP+ cables (QK702A)
• Cisco 7m copper active Twinax cables (SFP-H10GB-ACU7M)
• Cisco 10m copper active Twinax cables (SFP-H10GB-ACU10M

You can now rollback from a previous firmware upgrade without having to delete the VC domain which is good news.

There are also number of management enhancements such as Advanced telemetry and statistics for Link Aggregation Groups and FlexNICs and Display of factory default MACs and WWNs in server profiles.

Read more…

HP has released a new firmware version 4.1.402.20 of its Emulex OneConnect 10Gb Ethernet Controller which is used in HP G7 Blades.

The June HP Service Pack for ProLiant 2012.06.0(B) had a 4.1.402.8 firmware version so it looks like it only had a lifespan of a month and has now been superseded by 4.1.402.20.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the HP VMware Recipe for June has been updated http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/recipes/June2012VMwareRecipe1.0.pdf

The installation is as before and requires you to boot off an .ISO and update manually. (I have a dream that one day…)

Before June the firmware version recommended was 4.0.493. I can’t tell what the enhancements are between 4.1.402.8 and 4.1.402.20 as the release notes for 4.1.402.20 only list the resolved issues from 4.0.493.

BladeEngine Firmware

1. Increased RSS queues for Rhel drivers.
2. Fixed W2K8 graceful shutdown on NC552 adapter.
3. iSCSI not working when priority fields are used.
4. 554FLR-SFP adapter, FCoE Path Multipath Recovery Failure, SLES11 SP1 x64
5. FCoE port sometimes doesn’t login after VC module failover, w2k3
6. Fix support for TEMP_DEAD and ALOM_FAN_ON_AUX on Gen 8 servers
7. Correction to OCSD to prevent DMA conflicts with LPFC driver

PXE BIOS

1. NC553i adapter using wrong IP for gateway during Tftp
2. BE2/BE3 based adapters, PXE Hang
3. BL465cG7 PXE boot stops and is not coming up in RDP

iSCSI BIOS

1. SCSI SAN boot fails when DHCP Vendor Id is used for BL420cG8
2. Smart Array shows EBDA Error when ELX iSCSI Boot LUN configured

UEFI NIC

1. Dynamic link update is not working with NIC UEFI driver

Technical Tips

1. When updating HP CN1000e and NC550SFP products, use either the OneConnect-flash.iso or the Elxflash Offline tools. Either method will update the ILO image for the Network Communications Services Interface (NCSI) side band support. This procedure requires a power cycle after flashing. This tip does not apply to network cards that are version 4.0.360.15 or later.
2. Before you update your host drivers, update your firmware using the available online tools.

I’ve updated my post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites

HP has released a new version of its Virtual Connect Firmware 3.60 which is used in HP c-Class Chassis with Flex-10, FlexFabric, VC Enet and FC Module interconnect modules.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=3794423&prodNameId=3794431&swEnvOID=2079&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-f8ab0a5ea5c8462390b90a1986

This release adds support for the following server models, HBAs and Adapters:

• HP ProLiant BL420c Gen8 Server Series
• HP ProLiant BL465c Gen8 Server Blade
• HP LPe1205A 8Gb FC HBA for BladeSystem c-Class
• HP Ethernet 1Gb 2-port 361FLB Adapter
• HP Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 366M Adapter

This update has fixed quite a number of bugs, 14 are listed in the release notes but there are 7 new issues reported so make sure you read the notes carefully.

There are also quite a few general issues HP is tracking even with this new firmware, some of which have workarounds and others with promised fixes in future versions.

Also make sure you check through the pre-requisites to ensure you follow some of the advisories or you may lose configuration data and ensure you use the Virtual Connect Support Utility 1.6.0

VMware recently released a new Emulex be2net driver version 4.1.334.0 for both ESX(i) 4.x and ESXi 5.x for the Emulex OneConnect 10Gb Ethernet Controller which is used in HP G7 Blades.

These new drivers were not supported by HP when released but HP has now certified this driver and included it its new HP ESXi images.

ESX(i) 4.x
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESX4041-EMULEX-be2net-413340&productId=230
ESXi 5.x
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESX50-EMULEX-be2net-413340&productId=229

I’ve updated my post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites

HP has released new versions for June of  its customised ESXi images and offline bundles which include ESXi 5.0 Update 1 and ESXi 4.1 Update 2.

You can view the contents of all customised HP images here:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/software/vmware-esxi/driver_version.html

ESXi 5.0 Update 1
https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPVM09

Offline Bundle
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-83016c4f7e82421f82ad5c2fcc

What’s new:

• VMware ESXi 5.0 U1 is supported on new Gen8 servers.
• Updated VMware IOVP Certified Device Drivers added to HP ESXi 5.0 U1 installation images for HP device enablement.
• Supports HP Dynamic Smart Array.
• Updated providers:
• New Gen8 servers and new hardware.
• Additional support for HP Smart Carrier.
• Additional support for AC Lost detection for power supplies.
• Updated Agentless Management Service to:
• Support new hardware.
• Report network and SAS driver information.
• Report performance data.

ESXi 4.1 Update 2
https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPVM06

Offline Bundle
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-8fff2cc8385e4e92a7a209a51b

What’s new:

• VMware ESXi 4.1 U2 is supported on new Gen8 servers.
• Updated VMware IOVP Certified Device Drivers added to HP ESXi 4.1 U2 installation images for HP device enablement.
• Supports HP Dynamic Smart Array.
• Updated providers:
• New Gen8 servers and new hardware.
• Additional support for HP Smart Carrier.
• Additional support for AC Lost detection for power supplies.
• Updated Agentless Management Service to:
• support new hardware.
• report network and SAS driver information.
• report performance data.

Update: 06 June 2012 – These drivers are now supported by HP – HP G7 Blade new Emulex be2net ESX(i) drivers 4.1.334.0 now supported

Update: 11 May 2012 to amend link and try work out HP support. Apologies I had the wrong ESX(i) version link in the original post and hadn’t properly investigated HP support for  Virtual Connect/FlexFabric which is confusing. Sorry, Sloppy me! 🙁

VMware has released a new Emulex be2net driver version 4.1.334.0 for both ESX(i) 4.x and ESXi 5.x for the Emulex OneConnect 10Gb Ethernet Controller which is used in HP G7 Blades. But, before you get too excited, HP has NOT certified these drivers for use with HP Virtual Connect and FlexFabric…I think.

You see in this page from VMware which was updated on 4 April 2012 the advice is to use the 4.0.306.0 driver for ESX(i) 4.x and 4.0.355.1 for ESXi 5.x
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007397

This page however from VMware says for ESXi 5 driver version 4.0.355.1 isn’t supported for HP ProLiant G7 servers. It requires a new firmware version that is not currently available.
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=19067&vcl=true

but I think this is old as the HP advisory has been updated to say the 4.0.355.1 driver is supported
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03005737

But in this document which looks like it has been written by HP, the 4.1.334 drivers for both versions ARE supported (but again with different firmware version numbers that don’t really tally up with what has been supported before)
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/programs/hcl/ESX_Flex_config.pdf

I’m thinking that this document may be a little premature as no other HP information has been updated to reflect support for the 4.1.334 drivers

So, just for your information, the 4.1.334 drivers can be downloaded from the following links when they may be supported:

ESX(i) 4.x:
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESX4041-EMULEX-be2net-413340&productId=230

ESXi 5.x:
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details/dt_esxi50_emulex_be2net_413340/dHRAYndld3diZHBqaA==

But, I’m thinking the currently supported drivers are:

ESX(i) 4.x: version 4.0.306.0
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi40_emulex_be2net_403060/ZHcqYnQqaGpiZEBlZA

ESXi 5.x: version 4.0.355.1
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details/dt_esxi50_emulex_be2net_413340/dHRAYndld3diZHBqaA==

I’ve updated my post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites

HP has released two new firmware updates for its blade chassis, 3.50 and 3.55.

These were both released on the same day.

3.50 was released to support Gen 8 blades and is required before you insert any Gen 8 blades into your enclosure (along with having Virtual Connect 3.51). There are also a lot of other fixes. You will also need to update HP SIM to at least 6.3 to be able to discover OAs from 3.30 up.

3.55 was released on the same day as it seems testing missed some issues with authentication and EBIPA (great!) so I’m not sure why 3.50 was released at all. Confusingly the release notes and fixes for 3.55 include all the information from 3.50 so its not immediately obvious what the difference is.

So, no point really even looking at 3.50 but rather going straight for 3.55 which can be downloaded from:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=3188465&swItem=MTX-1ee4cda0b03447c6974e4ca184&prodNameId=3188475&swEnvOID=4040&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=3

Enhancements/New Features
Read more…