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…
HP has released a new version of the firmware for G7 blades which use an Emulex be2net Nic rather than the Broadcom bnx2x Nic used in G6 blades.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=5033632&swItem=co-103088-1&prodNameId=5033634&swEnvOID=54&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=3
This is an offline update so will require you to boot from an .ISO to apply the firmware update.
New Features
- Added support for the following operating systems: – RHEL 6.2
Resolved Issues from Firmware Version 4.0.360.15
- A file level restore (FLR) request sent to a BE3 device while rebooting an HP UX guest VM image caused a timeout event.
- When users tried to disable beaconing, they would receive a “Success” status even if beaconing had already been disabled.
- The CN1100e device using VLAN did not pass traffic using “copy”. This failed only in full power mode. Traffic only passed in auxiliary mode.
- The NC551 adapter failed to link with the 10Gb Pass-Thru module when using a 1Gb SFP transceiver.
- The CN1000e device occasionally lost connection to network-attached storage (NAS) volumes when running an FCoE protocol under heavy load.
- The FCoE port did not register as connected after repeated virtual connect (VC) module failovers.
- The Flex NIC required changes to the DCC method to keep the link down until the switch explicitly sent link up.
- A BL460c G7 array with P410i version 5.1x firmware would not boot from iSCSI if a logical drive was connected to it.
Known Issues
There are no known issues for this release.
Have a look at my updated post: HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 & VMware ESX(i) pre-requisites for information on all firmware & driver compatibility.
One of the challenges with working with HP blades and HP Virtual Connect switches is ensuring all your software and firmware versions are in sync as unfortunately there have been many firmware incompatibility and reliability issues that have plagued the technology over the years and making sure you have firmware that works certainly helps with your sanity!
I’ve been tracking the firmware requirements in my Flex-10 ESX pre-requisites post.
With the release of vSphere 5, things are a little simpler as there is no longer an ESX platform, only ESXi so you don’t have to worry about tracking separate driver requirements for both hypervisor releases.
Read more…
Updated: 9 September 2011 with new documentation links.
HP’s major announcement at VMworld was the HP VirtualSystem but also announced was the latest firmware update for Virtual Connect to 3.30 which is now available for download today.
HP says that 5 million ports have been shipped although I’m not sure how this is calculated. Each Flex-10 switch for example has 8 ports although typically most customers only use 1-3 so adding up all available ports in a switch which is typically underused seems like good old marketing hyperbole!
Read more…
HP was out in force at VMworld last week. Their major announcement was the HP VirtualSystem for VMware which is HPs pre-configured, tested and optimised converged infrastructure offering built for vSphere 5. This is HPs answer to FlexPod (Cisco, VMware, Netapp) and Vblock (Cisco, VMware, EMC) although with the HP VirtualSystem all the components (storage, networking, compute) are unsuprisingly HP rather than incorporating any other vendor other than VMware for the hypervisor.
Read more…
VMware has released a new Broadcom bnx2x Nic Driver for ESX(i) 4.1 which is used in HP blades for the HP NC532 Nics.
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi40_broadcom_bcm_netxtreme/ZHcqYnQlZXBiZGgqag
The new version is 1.64.32.v41.1
I’ve had confirmation from Rotem Agmon, a VMware Technical Consultant at HP that this new driver is not supported by HP.
The currently supported Update Manager driver friendly versions are:
ESX(i) 4.0 – 1.62.11.v40.1
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi40_broadcom_bcm57xxx/ZHcqYnR0d3BiZGVqdA==
ESX(i) 4.1 – 1.62.15.v41.2
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esx41_broadcom_netxtremeii_032311/ZHcqYnR0anBiZGhwZA==
My Flex-10 ESX(i) pre-requisites post has all the driver and firmware required versions.
There may be a situation where you need to downgrade your HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 firmware. You may need to downgrade to test/prove an upgrade again, you may have encountered a bug which forces you to downgrade or you may just need a roll back plan for your proposed upgrade.
In order to downgrade HP Virtual Connect firmware, you will need to shut down your HP blade environment as the downgrade procedure requires you to delete the Virtual Connect Domain which can only be done with all servers in all chassis in your Virtual Connect (VC) Domain powered down.
You need to ensure you have the local Administrator password for each Flex-10 module that came on the tag with the Flex-10 module. As you will be deleting the VC domain, any domain/local users created as part of the VC domain will not be available once the domain has been deleted.
Read more…
VMworld 2011 is coming up and one of the great things about the conference is independent community members can also offer to present on any topic of interest.
I’ve put forward a presentation proposal Designing and Building a Simple and Scalable Virtual Infrastructure with HP Flex-10 and ESX(i) which is the ONLY HP Flex-10 related presentation proposal.
As there are many more presentation proposals than available slots, the options are put to a public vote so YOU get to decide what you want to see at VMWorld.
If HP Flex-10 and ESX(i) is of interest to you, please vote for my session. You will need a VMworld logon and click on the thumbs up icon against any sessions that interest you, hopefully mine!
Title: Designing and Building a Simple and Scalable Virtual Infrastructure with HP Flex-10 and ESX(i)
Technical Level: Technical
Abstract: No one is downsizing their virtual infrastructure. Your virtual hosting environment is the one place in your IT department where you are not looking at making anything smaller. The benefits of virtualisation in managing costs by making better use of resources, improving availability by increased uptime and simplifying and standardising on your IT processes means you need to virtualise more and more. Using HP blades is a great foundation to build and expand your virtual infrastructure enabling you to create your own private or public cloud. HP Flex-10 delivers 10GbE to each blade and using VMware’s advanced converged networking capabilities allows you to provide IP Storage, VM Traffic, vMotion and FT to your infrastructure in a simple yet scalable way. Understanding and designing your infrastructure for HP Flex-10 can seem daunting, frustrating and confusing with too many options along with ever changing firmware and Nic driver version requirements. “Designing and building a simple and scalable virtual infrastructure with HP Flex-10 and ESX(i)” will show you how to configure your blade environment, what firmware versions you require and how to build your ESX(i) hosts with PowerCLI to take advantage of 10GbE converged networking.
Categories: Blog, ESX, Flex-10, HP, VMware Tags: esx, Flex-10, hp, networking, powershell, vmware, vmworld
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