Knowledge Base

Obtaining Host Bus adapter driver and firmware information

• To determine the firmware version of a Host Bus Adapter, see Identifying the firmware of a Qlogic or Emulex FC HBA (1002413).
  
  
• To obtain the driver version of a Host Bus Adapter on an ESXi/ESX host:
  
  
1. Open a console to the ESXi/ESX host. For more information, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807) or Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x (1017910).
   
   
2. Obtain the driver type that the Host Bus Adapter is currently using:
   
   # esxcfg-scsidevs -a
   
   You see output similar to:
   
   vmhba0  ata_piix   link-n/a  ide.vmhba0    (0:7.1) Intel Corporation Virtual Machine Chipset
vmhba1  mptspi     link-n/a  pscsi.vmhba1  (0:16.0) LSI Logic / Symbios Logic LSI Logic Parallel SCSI Controller
vmhba32 ata_piix   link-n/a  ide.vmhba32   (0:7.1) Intel Corporation Virtual Machine Chipset
   
   Note: The second column shows the driver that is configured for the HBA.
   
   
3. To view the driver version in use, run the command:
   
   # vmkload_mod -s HBADriver |grep Version
   
   For example, to check the mptspi driver:
   
   # vmkload_mod -s mptspi |grep Version

Version: Version 4.00.37.00.30vmw, Build: 721907, Interface: 9.0, Built on: May 18 2012
   
   In this example, the driver version is 4.00.37.00.30vmw.
   
   To obtain the driver version for all HBAs in the system with a single command, use:
   
   # for a in $(esxcfg-scsidevs -a |awk '{print $2}') ;do vmkload_mod -s $a |grep -i version ;done
   
   
4. To determine the recommended driver for the card, we must obtain the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID) using the vmkchdev command:
   
   # vmkchdev -l |grep vmhba1

000:16.0 1000:0030 15ad:1976 vmkernel vmhba1
   
   In this example, the values are:
   
   
   • VID = 1000
   • DID = 0030
   • SVID = 15ad
   • SDID = 1976
   
   To obtain vendor information for all HBAs in the system using a single command:
   
   # for a in $(esxcfg-scsidevs -a |awk '{print $1}') ;do vmkchdev -l |grep $a ;done
   
   
5. You can now search the VMware Compatibility Guide for the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID). In some cases, you may need to do a text search to narrow down the particular card.
   
   Note: You can check the ESXi/ESX host version with the command:
   

# vmware -v

Obtaining Network card driver and firmware information

1. Open a console to the ESXi/ESX host. For more information, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807) or Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x (1017910).
   
   
2. Obtain a list of network interface cards and names.
   
   In ESXi/ESX 4.x, run this command:
   
   # esxcfg-nics -l
   
   For example:
   
   # esxcfg-nics -l

Name    PCI         Driver Link Speed    Duplex MAC Address
vmnic0  00:02:04.00 ACME   Up   1000Mbps Full   01:23:45:67:89:AB
vmnic1  00:02:05.00 ACME   Up   1000Mbps Full   01:23:45:67:78:AC
   
   In ESXi 5.x, run this command:
   
   # esxcli network nic list
   
   
3. Use the ethtool -i command to display available information for one of the network interfaces, specifying its name from step 2:
   
   # ethtool -i VMNic_name
   
   For example:
   
   # ethtool -i vmnic0

driver: ACME
version: 1.2.3a-1vmw
firmware-version: 7.8.9
bus-info: 0000:02:04.00
   
   To obtain information from ethtool -i for all network adapters at once, you can run the following command:
   
   for a in $(esxcfg-nics -l|awk '{print $1}'|grep [0-9]) ;do ethtool -i $a;done
   
   
4. To determine the recommended driver for the card, we must obtain the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID) using the vmkchdev command:
   
   # vmkchdev -l |grep vmnic0

002:01.0 8086:100f 15ad:0750 vmkernel vmnic0
   
   In this example, the values are:
   
   
   • VID = 8086
   • DID = 100f
   • SVID = 15ad
   • SDID = 0750
   
   To obtain vendor information for all NICs in the system using a single command:
   
   # for a in $(esxcfg-nics -l |awk '{print $1}' |grep [0-9]) ;do vmkchdev -l |grep $a ;done
   
   
5. You can now search the VMware Compatibility Guide for the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID). In some cases, you may need to do a text search to narrow down the particular card.
   
   Note: You can check the ESXi/ESX host version with the command:
   
   # vmware -v
   
   
6. From both the ESXi/ESX version and the network type, you then know the version of the driver to use. Any driver updates are available on the VMware downloads page.