I am installing ESXi 6.0 on 6 Dell PowerEdge R440's They all have 2 default onboard 1GB nics installed as well as Broadcom 57412 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ PCIe Adapter and Broadcom 57416 Dual Port 10 GB E BaseT Network LOM Mezz Card. Both are on the HCL for this version of ESXi.
After installing 6.0 on the hardware, I went in to configure the network and the only NICs I see are the onboard 1GB nics. From vCenter all I can see are the 2 onboard nics. I thought maybe it was a Driver issue so I researched and found the vib file from VM to install the driver on my host. When I run the esxcli software vib command, it returned that it skipped the vib for the driver.
I run lspci and I find all 6 nic's in the list. I run esxcli network nic list, but only see the 2 onboard nics. If I go into my vCenter, I can find the additional 4 cards when I go to the host\Manage\ Hardware\PCI Devices and Edit PCI Device Availability, but that enables passthrough so that the VM's can directly access the ports, but that is not what I want. I want them in the vSwitch so all VM's use those ports instead of the 1GB ports.
Any suggestions\help would be greatly appreciated.
Did you use the latest Dell customized installation image?
ESXi 6.0 Update3 Build Number 10474991
Dell Version-A13
Dell Release Date: 2nd November, 2018
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.0.0.update03-10474991.x86_64-DellEMC_Customized_A13.iso
If you did, which driver/version did you try to install?
André
We your're using an old ESXi version?
A recent Dell Custom ISO for 6.5/6.7 will support this nic for sure. If you dont wont to use a Dell Custom ISO iam sure thatn in the the Driver&Tool section on vmware.com for 6.0 you'll find a driver too.
Try https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI60-BROADCOM-BNXTNET-2120930&productI... and report.
Regards,
Joerg
I know that it is 6.0 Update 3, and I know it is for Dell. I cannot swear to it being the most recent as I can only use software that goes through our software testing facility before it goes onto our live network. as for the driver version, I got permission to get the VIB file straight from VMware. I went the VMware compatibility site, searched for the version I had and then went to their download and got the VMware ESXi6.0 bnxtnet 20.8.15.2.0 NIC Driver for Broadcom NetXtreme-C/E BCM5731x/BCM5741x Network Controller. I have no doubts at all that I have the correct driver, and that driver as it turns out is already in the image I installed. I am able to see all of the NIC's in the passthrough setup
But I am unable to see them to add them in the VMNetwork
IRIX201110141,
The link you posted is exactly where I got my vib file from VMware
Hmm.... can you go to VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search and check the PCIID of the card please? This is how ESXi assigns the driver to it.
- 3 Years ago Broadcom sold part the the NIC business to Qlogic and some weird renaming starts
- After 6.0 there comes 6.5.0 - 6.5.0u3 followed by 6.7.0 and one year later 6.7u1
I have serveral dozens of 14Gen Dell Servers and some of these have the 57412 as well and they works with a more modern Dell Custom ISO.
Hmmm HCL listet Dell and BCM entries for the card:
VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search
Regards,
Joerg
I do not know if you have solved it, but as I see your cards are not compatible but with the ESXi version 6.5 u2.
Add link
https://ceritaheboh.co/download/401567-Last-Updated-April-28-2019-I-O-Compatibility-Guide.html