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Installing async drivers on ESXi 4.x and ESX 4.x (1032936)

Purpose

This article provides the different methods for installing async driver releases on ESXi/ESX 4.x. For more information on a specific async driver release, see the /doc/README.txt file within the async driver release ISO.

Async drivers are developed by third-party vendors and are subjected to VMware certification. To download the async drivers signed by VMware visit the VMware Download Center select the ESXi/ESX version and use the Drivers and Tools tab.

Note: This article is for vSphere 4. For more information about installing async drivers in vSphere 5, see Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.x (2005205).

Resolution

There are several methods to install asynchronous drivers on ESXi/ESX 4.x. Some of these methods are applicable to only ESX or ESXi. Some of these methods copy the offline-bundle.zip file to the ESX host over the network or using a local CD-ROM. You must choose the appropriate method for your environment.

During a new ESX installation

  1. Place the ESX installation DVD in the DVD drive of the host.
  2. Restart the host.
  3. Accept the terms of the license agreement.
  4. Select a keyboard type.
  5. When prompted for custom drivers, click Yes to install custom drivers.
  6. Click Add to eject the ESX installation DVD.
  7. Place the supplemental driver CD in the DVD drive of the ESX host.

    Note: During the ESX installation, a supplemental driver install CD is provided.

  8. Select the driver module to import drivers to the ESX host.
  9. Click Next.
  10. When prompted to load the system drivers, click Yes.
  11. After loading the driver module, continue installing ESX.

    Note: After the drivers are installed, you are prompted to remove the driver CD and re-insert the ESX installation DVD.

Existing ESX installation using esxupdate and a CD

An existing ESX host can mount the Async driver CD and install the offline bundles within using the esxupdate utility.
  1. Log in to the ESX host using an account with administrator privileges, such as root.
  2. Enter maintenance mode.
  3. Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the ESX host.
  4. Mount the driver CD through console of the host or with an SSH session using the command:

    mount -o loop -t iso9660 isofilename /mnt/cdrom/

  5. Navigate to cd_mount_point/offline-bundle/ and locate the offline-bundle.zip file.
  6. Run this command to install drivers using the offline bundle:

    esxupdate --bundle=/mnt/cdrom/offline-bundle/offline-bundle.zip update

  7. Reboot the ESX host.
  8. Exit maintenance mode.

Existing ESXi/ESX installation using esxupdate and Datastore Browser

An existing ESXi/ESX host can install offline bundles that have been copied from the Async release ISO to the ESXi/ESX host.
  1. Extract the contents of the ISO file.
  2. Identify the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
  3. Using the Datastore Browser, upload the offline-bundle.zip file(s) to an ESXi/ESX host's datastore.
  4. Log in to the ESXi/ESX host using an account with administrator privileges, such as root.
  5. Enter maintenance mode.
  6. Navigate to /vmfs/volumes/datastorename/ and locate the offline-bundle.zip file.
  7. Run this command to install drivers using the offline bundle:

    esxupdate --bundle=offline-bundle.zip update

  8. Reboot the ESXi/ESX host.
  9. Exit maintenance mode.

Existing ESXi/ESX Installation using vihostupdate and a CD

An ESXi/ESX host can be updated remotely using the vihostupdate utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more information on vihostupdate, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
  1. Power on the ESXi/ESX host.
  2. Place the driver CD in the CD-ROM drive of the host where either the vSphere CLI package is installed or vMA is hosted.
  3. Mount the driver CD.
  4. Navigate to cd_mount_point/offline-bundle/ and locate the offline-bundle.zip file.
  5. Put the system into maintenance mode using this command:

    vicfg-hostops conn_options operation enter
  6. Run this vihostupdate command to install drivers using the offline bundle:

    vihostupdate conn_options --install --bundle offline-bundle.zip

    For example:

    vihostupdate --server myesxhost --username root --password mypassword --install --bundle driver-offline-bundle.zip

    Note: You may have to supply the .pl extension in the above command if the script is not recognized as a Perl script. For example: vihostupdate.pl. This is not necessary if you are using the vMA.

  7. To exit maintenance mode, run this command:

    vicfg-hostops conn_options operation exit
  8. Reboot the host for the new driver to become effective.

Existing ESXi/ESX installation using vihostupdate and a web-based depot

An ESXi/ESX host can be updated remotely using the vihostupdate utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more information on vihostupdate, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
  1. Power on the ESXi/ESX host.
  2. Place the offline-bundle.zip file on a web server accessible to the ESXi/ESX host.
  3. Put the system into maintenance mode using this command:

    vicfg-hostops conn_options operation enter
  4. Run the vihostupdate command to install drivers using the offline bundle:

    vihostupdate conn_options --install --bundle http://webserver/path/offline-bundle.zip

    For example:

    vihostupdate --server myesxhost --username root --password mypassword --install --bundle http://esxpatches/depot/driver-offline-bundle.zip
  5. To exit the maintenance mode, run this command:

    vicfg-hostops conn_options operation exit
  6. Reboot the host for the new driver to become effective.

Existing ESXi/ESX installation using Update Manager

To install the async driver:
  1. Extract the contents of the async driver .zip file.
  2. Identify the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
  3. From vCenter Server, click Home > Update Manager.
  4. Click the Patch Repository tab.
  5. Click the Import Patches link at the top right of the screen.
  6. Click Browse for the offline-bundle.zip file.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Click Upload.

    Note: If a certificate warning displays, click Ignore.


  9. Click Finish. The async driver is added to the patch repository.
  10. Create a Host Extension baseline and remediate the ESXi/ESX host.

    Note: For more information, see the vSphere Update Manager Documentation.

    Adding third-party device drivers to ESXi 4.1 hosts is performed through the use of the VIBDDI tool. For more information, see Adding third-party device drivers to ESXi 4.1.

Additional Information

To install async drivers using VMware Update Manager, refer to the Create a Host Extension Baseline section from the VMware vCenter Update Manager Installation and Administration Guide. For additional information, see Update Manager 4.1 patch repository features (1021695).

Note: Async drivers are developed by third-party vendors and are subjected to VMware certification. Third-party vendors provide recommendations/suggestions to upgrade their drivers/firmware for specific versions of ESXi/ESX. Therefore, VMware does not include these async drivers automatically in Update Manager.


For translated versions of this article, see:

See Also

This Article Replaces

1019101

Update History

03/28/2013 - Added steps to enter and exit maintenance mode to the vihostupdate sections

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