ESX 4.0u1 Intel Quad NIC issue
My server of choice for running ESX 4.0 is currently Dell’s 2U PowerEdge R710. Recently I received 2 of these and began the build out process, only to find that the ESX 4.0u1 installer (and ultimately the entire OS) did not recognize either of the two Intel Quad Port GB server adapters I have installed. To get the NIC to work, I needed to manually install the drivers for this NIC. This was NOT an issue with the initial ESX 4.0 release.
The driver is located HERE.
One downloaded, use a tool like Undisker to extract the files from the ISO.
Use WinSCP to copy the extracted files to a directory on your ESX host.
At this point you must put your server in maintenance mode.
Using Putty, login to your host and change to the directory that contains the files you SCP’d over earlier.
Run esxupdate --bundle=INT-intel-lad-ddk-igb-1.3.19.12.1-offline_bundle-185976.zip update
Once the process finishes, reboot your host and exit maitenance mode. Your NIC should now be active.
Tags: ddk, esx, host, issue, maintenance mode, NIC, process, quad port, server, server adapters, Service Console, U PowerEdge, undisker, VMware, vSphere/ESX
January 25th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
oh man, costed me 2 hours to figure this out 5 days ago, even dell support couldnt help me..
At one point they even told me that it wasnt a supported nic….
But indeed this is the solution!!
January 26th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hi,
Is this the Intel Pro 1000 PT PCIe x4 card (identified as 82575GB in ESX)? I have eight R710’s with this card and six of them running ESX 4 U1 now and they seem to be identified ok. I’m using the 1.2.6 BIOS version which might make a difference, if not it sounds that your install won’t find the driver.
Best regards,
Daniel
January 26th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Disclaimer: Patrick works in the LAN Access Division at Intel Corp, supporting virtualization technologies.
It is unfortunate that you had challenges with the driver for the Intel Quad Port GbE adapters. You did not specify which particular Intel Quad Port GbE adapters you are using – are they the 82575 or are they the 82576 adapters?
I ask because there is a big difference. The Intel 82575 GbE adapters do have in-box support from VMware, however the Intel 82576 GbE Quad Port controllers do not (the dual port does, but not the quad). VMware decides what drivers they support with in-box releases.
Intel provide updated Ethernet drivers to VMware, who in turn wraps them in an esxupdate package and posts them to their web site. The latest igb driver from Intel supports the Quad Port 82576 GbE adapters and is available as you pointed out here.
What seems to be missing on this page is actual installation instructions. On previous releases such as the one for ESX 3.5 here VMware provided installation instructions for updating the drivers that do not require as many steps as you unfortunately had to go through. The basic steps are:
Mount the ISO
Change dir to /VMupdates/RPMS in the ISO
Run esxupdate update
The script will run and install the driver, rebooting the server after it has finished. After the reboot has occurred, the Intel® 82576 Gigabit Ethernet Controller should now be listed when you perform the following command:
#esxcfg-nics –l
I will see if I can talk to somebody about making sure the installation instructions get added to the download page for the ESX 4.0 Intel igb driver here.
February 1st, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Disclaimer: Brian Johnson and Patrick works in the LAN Access Division at Intel Corp, supporting virtualization technologies.
I posted this on blogs.scottlowe.org…
It is unfortunate that you had challenges with the driver for the Intel Quad Port GbE adapters. You did not specify which particular Intel Quad Port GbE adapters you are using – are they the 82575 or are they the 82576 adapters?
I ask because there is a big difference. The Intel 82575 GbE adapters do have in-box support from VMware, however the Intel 82576 GbE Quad Port controllers do not (the dual port does, but not the quad). VMware decides what drivers they support with in-box releases.
Intel provide updated Ethernet drivers to VMware, who in turn wraps them in an esxupdate package and posts them to their web site. The latest igb driver from Intel supports the Quad Port 82576 GbE adapters and is available as you pointed out here.
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx_esxi40_intel_82575_82576_dt/ZHcqYmR0QGpidGR3
What seems to be missing on this page is actual installation instructions. On previous releases such as the one for ESX 3.5 ( http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/drivercd/esx35-igb-350.1.3.8.6.3.html ) VMware provided installation instructions for updating the drivers that do not require as many steps as you unfortunately had to go through. The basic steps are:
1. Mount the ISO
2. Change dir to /VMupdates/RPMS in the ISO
3. Run esxupdate update
The script will run and install the driver, rebooting the server after it has finished. After the reboot has occurred, the Intel® 82576 Gigabit Ethernet Controller should now be listed when you perform the following command:
#esxcfg-nics –l
I will see if I can talk to somebody about making sure the installation instructions get added to the download page for the ESX 4.0 Intel igb driver here. http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx_esxi40_intel_82575_82576_dt/ZHcqYmR0QGpidGR3
Patrick Kutch
System Manageability & Virtualization TME, Intel Corporation
February 6th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Thank you to both Patrick and Brian for working w/VMware to post instructions.
The adapter I am having an issue with is the one Dell provided me as supported for an ESX configuration. It is listed as:
“Intel Gigabit ET NIC,Quad Port, Copper, PCIe-4 (430-0657)”
It is identified as an 82575GB Adapter once this driver is installed. R710 is at 1.2.6 It is important to note these servers were a fresh build of 4.0U1, not an upgrade from 4.0. I will try to test an upgrade to see if there is any affect. I’ll also work w/Dell to track down what model/version this card truly is.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
The 82575 is definately supported InBox by VMware. Most odd.
I have tracked down the proper installation instructions from the driver download page from VMware. They are under the ‘Release Notes’ link on the right side of the page.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Thanks for the followup. I am still waiting on a response from Dell regading the particular part # that I order from them:
Intel Gigabit ET NIC,Quad Port, Copper, PCIe-4 (430-0657)
Using the esxcfg-nics -l command I can see that these are the 82576 revision., it just shows up as 82575 in vCenter.
Was the 82576 revision supported out of the box in the gold release of 4.0? This only became a problem with 4.0 U1.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
The Quad port 82576 is not supported InBox and must have the latest drivers downloaded.
Odd that vCenter reports them as the previos generation.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:14 am
I’ve run into this same issue. Intel discontinued the VT quad prt card and replaced with the ET card. The VT card has drivers in the ESX 4 build, the ET card does not have drivers in 4.0 or 4.0 U1. A bit annoying and I really don’t like having the same model server with different Nic cards.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Intel has not discontinued the VT Quad Port NIC card. It is likely that your server manufacturer has replaced the older VT Quad Port with the newer VT due to it’s increased virtualization capabilities (better VMDq in addition to SR-IOV support).
It is unfortunate that they seem to have made this change before VMware has added inbox support for the newer Quad Port though.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:51 am
A big thanks for this info it saved me many hours of troubleshooting.
March 1st, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Hi! from Berkley. I enjoy your blog