ESX Server 3.0.2, Patch ESX-1002431; Updates to VMware-esx-vmx and VMware-esx-vmkernel; Fix For Detecting LSI Logic Controller, Support for PCI-X NICs on IBM System x3655

Symptoms

• Installation of guest operating systems with Linux kernel version 2.6.18 or greater using LSI Logic driver version 3.04.01 or greater might fail with the following message:
  
  An error has occurred - no valid devices were found on which to create a file systems.Please check your hardware for the cause of this problem
  
  

• No network traffic can go through PCI-X NICs attached through a PCI-X riser on IBM System x3655. The following message might be logged in /var/log/vmkernel.
  
  Nov 6 21:25:20 [host name] vmkernel: 0:00:00:12.908 cpu0:1024)AMD81xx: 75: AMD-8131 at 064:15.0, disabling NIOAMODE
  Nov 6 21:25:20 [host name] vmkernel: 0:00:00:12.908 cpu0:1024)AMD81xx: 75: AMD-8131 at 064:16.0, disabling NIOAMODE

Deployment Considerations

• LSI Logic SCSI cards
• IBM System x3655

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

1. Download patch ESX-1002431 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html .

2. Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.

3. Create a local depot directory.

# mkdir -p /var/updates

Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

4. Change your working directory to /var/updates .

# cd /var/updates

5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.

7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

# tar -xvzf ESX-1002431.tgz

8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1002431:

# cd ESX-1002431

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMotion before applying the patch. A reboot of the ESX Server host is required after applying the patch.

After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1002431 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1002431 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1002431 update

For more information how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf .