Update 08/10/2014: HP support recommends to install the following versions of the Emulex firmware/drivers.

Install the following driver and firmware version for the NIC and install on server and check

As it is a ESX 5.1 we would use BE2NET driver

Driver: 4.9.488.0 – http://www.hp.com/
Firmware: 4.9.416.0 – http://www.hp.com/

You can read more about the issues here at http://www.techazine.com. I saw the same symptoms on brand new HP BL460 Gen8 and vSphere 5.1 update 2, the latest build: VMware-ESXi-5.1.0-Update2-2000251-HP-5.68.30-Sep2014.iso released on 2014-09-08.  Hosts randomly disconnects from vCenter, even if those hosts are in maintenance mode (lucky me).

The driver causing the issues is version: net-be2net 10.2.293.0-1OEM.510.0.0.802205 Emulex VMwareCertified 2014-08-25. More information about the drivers included in the latest custom ISO can be found here: http://vibsdepot.hp.com/hpq/recipes/September2014VMwareRecipe16.0.pdf

To solve this issue, you need to downgrade the driver to the previous version. I had no issues with the 4.6.247.10 drivers so I used this one.

I created a PowerCLI script to verify the installed version of the net-be2net on all the BL460c Gen8 blades.

$be2netlist = @()
foreach($vmhost in (Get-VMhost | ?{$_.Model -eq "ProLiant BL460c Gen8"}| sort name)){
    Write-Host "Checking host $($vmhost.name)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMHost $vmhost
        $be2net = New-Object PSObject -Property ([ordered]@{
            vmhost = $vmhost.name
            driver = ($esxcli.software.vib.list() | ?{$_.Name -eq "net-be2net"}).name
            version = ($esxcli.software.vib.list() | ?{$_.Name -eq "net-be2net"}).version        
        })
        $be2netlist += $be2net
}
$be2netlist | ft -AutoSize

The output:

image

Now we wait for a fix from HP and Emulex.

Published by afokkema

11 thoughts on “HP’s September VMware driver bundle and issues with Emulex CNA’s”

  1. Ugh, not the first time there have been problems with Emulex drivers and nonresponsive vSphere hosts. I won’t even use their cards anymore, they seem to be as bad as Broadcom.

    Reply

  5. it occours immediately after you insert on cluster or may happens days after the upgrade?! Thank you

    Reply

  7. I just saw that in ESXi 5.5 U2 the driver isn’t update. Still as 4x version.

    See:

    Emulex_bootbank_net-be2net_4.9.288.0-1OEM.510.0.0.802205
    Name: net-be2net
    Version: 4.9.288.0-1OEM.510.0.0.802205
    Type: bootbank
    Vendor: Emulex
    Acceptance Level: VMwareCertified
    Summary: be2net: net driver for VMware ESX
    Description: OneConnect 10G Network Driver
    ReferenceURLs:
    Creation Date: 2013-11-14
    Depends: vmkapi_2_1_0_0, com.vmware.driverAPI-9.2.1.0

    Reply

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