Knowledge Base

Summaries and Symptoms

This bundle is a part of the ESXi 3.5 Update 4 Installable and Embedded releases. For more information on the new features and fixes found in the release, see the relevant release notes at:

• Installable: http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/vi3_esx3i_i_35u4_rel_notes.html
• Embedded: http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/vi3_esx3i_e_35u4_rel_notes.html

In addition to the Update 4 rollup from previous patch releases, this patch fixes the following issues:

• VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 4 introduces an adaptive queue depth algorithm that adjusts the LUN queue depth in the VMkernel I/O stack. When congestion is detected, VMkernel throttles the LUN queue depth. VMkernel will attempt to gradually restore the queue depth when congestion conditions subside. By default, this algorithm is disabled. You can enable it by following the instructions in KB article 1008113 at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008113.
  
  
• Adds support for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 guest operating systems.
  
  This patch adds support for SLES 11 guests. For more information about supported guests, see the Guest Operating System Installation Guide at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf.
  
  
• Adds failover support for Sun StorageTek 2530. For more information about hardware compatibility, see http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
  
  
• Updates the Intel e1000e driver, which allows ESXi 3.5 Update 4 to work with products based on the Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet controller. For detailed information about ESXi hardware compatibility, see http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
  
  
• ESXi 3.5 displays incorrect VMkernel warning messages.
  
  ESXi 3.5 might display incorrect VMkernel warning messages, which indicate the system has detected a device that does not support SCSI-3 protocol. However, the device still works with ESX 3.5. The messages might look similar to the following:
  
  vmkwarning:Dec 12 14:57:11 [host name] vmkernel: 0:00:00:18.539 cpu5:1048)
  WARNING: ScsiUid: 550: Path 'vmhba2:C0:T0:L12' : supports ANSI version 'SCSI-2'
  (0x2). In order to be used with ESX a device must support the SCSI 3 protocol.
  
  This patch fixes the issue. The fix provides for logging a warning message similar to the following in the VMkernel logs, if a non-SCSI 3 device is detected:
  
  Support for SCSI-2 devices may be deprecated in a future release
  
  
• Guest operating systems and storage might not communicate properly in RDM.
  
  In Raw Device Mapping (RDM) mode, if the amount of data sent back from storage to the guest operating system is greater than 36 bytes in one SCSI inquiry, then guest operating systems and storage might not communicate properly. Products such as Microsoft Virtual Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and NetApp SnapDrive might experience issues. This patch resolves this issue.
  
  
• PAE-enabled Windows 2000 virtual machines stop responding.
  
  A Physical Address Extension (PAE) enabled Windows 2000 virtual machine might stop responding on reboot, or fail randomly.
  
  
• The maximum memory limits for Windows XP Professional, .NET Standard Server, and Vista have been raised to the following limits:
  
  XP - 65,532MB
  .NET - 32,768MB
  Vista - 4,096MB
  
  
• The default virtual NIC has changed from vlance to e1000.
  
  For ESXi 3.5 Update 4, the default vlance virtual NIC used for Solaris 10 32-bit and Solaris 9 32-bit has changed. To provide better performance, the E1000 network interface card (NIC) has been made the default virtual NIC for Solaris 9 32-bit and Solaris 10 32-bit.
  
  
• Enhanced vmxnet support has been added for the following guest operating systems:
  
  Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit)
  Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (64-bit)
  Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003
  Microsoft Windows XP Professional (32-bit)
  Ubuntu (32-bit)
  
  
• The default memory size for the Windows EBS 2008 64-bit guest is insufficient.
  
  Prior to ESXi 3.5 Update 4, the guest operating system for Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) 2008 64-bit does not, by default, provide enough memory. At 2048MB, the default memory size is insufficient, resulting in the virtual machine failing to load.
  
  This issue is resolved in this patch. For ESXi 3.5 Update 4, the default memory size for the Windows EBS 2008 64-bit guest operating system is 4096MB.
  
  
• The ESXi 3.5 Update 3 Emulex driver is, in some cases, incompatible with the Emulex host bus adapter (HBA). When Emulex LPe1150 HBA with firmware version 1.00a5 or older is used with the Emulex driver shipped in ESX 3.5i Update 3, the driver fails to claim the Emulex HBA.
  
  This issue is resolved in this patch. The VMware driver for this issue has been updated in ESXi 3.5 Server Update 4. The new driver is now also compatible with Emulex host bus adapters that use firmware versions 1.00a5 and older. The updated driver works irrespective of the Emulex HBA firmware version.
  
  
• The driver and firmware for the QLogic HBAs have been updated to version 7.08-vm66 and 4.04.06 respectively. This upgrade provides support for the QLogic management application SANSurfer FC Manager.
  
  
• The Emulex driver has been updated to version 7.4.0.39. This upgrade provides support for the Emulex management application HBAnyware.
  
  
• The OpenIPMI driver has been enhanced to operate the HP IPMI controller through the PCI bus and interrupts, and to support OEM message channels. These changes are necessary for HP G6 servers, which use OEM messages, to report memory problems.
  
  
• This patch provides updated versions of LSI MPT SCSI and MegaRAID SAS drivers. The updated drivers allow Dell Open Manage management agents to run on ESXi without causing a spike in CPU utilization.
  
  Without this patch, the esxtop command shows output similar to the following for dsm_sa_datamgr3:
  
  ID GID NAME NWLD %USED %RUN %SYS %WAIT %RDY %IDLE %OVRLP %CSTP %MLMTD
  1973 1973 dsm_sa_datamgr3 14 67.88 68.88 0.00 1329.24 1.86 0.00 7.85 0.00 0.00
  
  

• This patch adds support for new HP Smart Array controllers. For details about supported I/O Devices, search the Hardware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility .
  
  

• This patch adds support for the NetXen NX3031 network interface controller.
  
  Note: This NIC does not support network boot or network installation.
  
  

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