Knowledge Base

Search the Knowledge Base:
Products:
Search In:
 

MSCS Requires 2Gb Fibre Channel HBA on ESX Server 2.5.5

Details

Microsoft Cluster Services using Fibre Channel HBAs is currently supported on ESX Server 2.5.5 using only 2Gb Fibre Channel HBAs. This requires using the appropriate 2Gb Fibre Channel driver. ESX Server 2.5.5 is installed with 4Gb Fibre Channel drivers by default. New servers are now shipping with 4Gb HBAs. You will have to replace 4Gb HBAs with VMware supported 2Gb cards to use MSCS. Non-MSCS installations can use the 4Gb cards and the default 4Gb driver.
 
Warning: If your server has 4Gb HBAs, you cannot roll back the driver to support 2Gb. Rolling back the driver as per the instructions in this document is unsupported.

Solution

To determine which Fibre Channel drivers are installed:

  1. Use the command vmkload_mod -l to determine which drivers are installed.

  2. Review the command output. 4Gb drivers are indicated by lpfcdd_732, qla2200_707, or qla2300_707. If one of these is present, modify your drivers.
To modify installed Fibre Channel drivers:

Replace any 4Gb HBAs with supported 2Gb HBAs. For a list of supported storage devices see the VMware I/O Compatibility Guide for ESX Server 3.0 at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_io_guide.pdf.
 
A.  From the command output in step 1, determine the appropriate command to run:
 
If the driver loaded is 'lpfcdd_732', run:
#cat /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map | grep -i lpfcdd_2xx >> /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map.local
 
If the driver loaded is 'qla2200_707', run:
#cat /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map | grep -i qla2200_7xx >> /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map.local
 
If the driver loaded is 'qla2300_707', run:
#cat /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map | grep -i qla2300_7xx >> /etc/vmware/vmware-devices.map.local
 
B.  Power off or migrate all running virtual machines to other ESX hosts with VMotion.  Reboot the system
 
C.  When the system is booted up successfully, run the following command to ensure the 2Gb driver is loaded:
#vmkload_mod -l
 
The Fibre Channel HBA driver loaded should be one of the following:
lpfcdd_7xx
qla2200_7xx
qla2300_7xx
 
 
 
 

Feedback

Rating: 1 - Lowest 2 3 4 5 - Highest (0 Ratings)   

Did this article help you?
This article resolved my issue.
This article did not resolve my issue.
This article helped but additional information was required to resolve my issue.
What can we do to improve this information? (2000 or fewer characters)
Submit
Rating: 1 - Lowest 2 3 4 5 - Highest (0 Ratings)   
Actions
  • KB Article: 1002466
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 2.5.x