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Oracle® Storage 12 Gb/s SAS PCIe RAID HBA, Internal Installation Guide For HBA Models 7110116 and 7110117

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Updated: April 2020
 
 

Replacing the Native VMware HBA Driver

In order to use the HBA with the VMware ESXi 5.5 technology, you must replace the native VMware HBA driver, lsi_mr3, with the megaraid_sas HBA driver.

This section contains the following topics:

To Enable IP Connectivity, the ESXi Shell, and SSH

Before you can replace the VMware native HBA driver, you must enable IP connectivity to the ESXi server, and enable the ESXi shell and SSH.

  1. Access the VMware ESXi technology software.

    If your system is an x86 system, you can use Oracle System Assistant to access the VMware ESXi technology software.


    image:Figure showing VMware ESXi 5.5 Technology software                                     screen
  2. Press F2 to customize the system and use the arrow keys to navigate to the Configure Management Network menu option.
    image:Figure showing the Configure Management Network menu                                     option
  3. From the page that is displayed, select Network Adapters, and from the popup window that is displayed, select the connected vmnic device for IP connectivity.
    image:Figure of the Network Adapters popup window
  4. At the popup window, press Enter to confirm the selection and press Esc to exit the popup window.
  5. From the page that is displayed, type Y at the prompt to apply the changes you made and to restart the management network.

    If your network is configured for DHCP, you now have IP connectivity.


    Note -  If you are using static IP addressing, you can enable IP connectivity by accessing the Configure Management Network screen, and then specifying the appropriate IP and DNS configuration settings for your ESXi 5.5 server and your IP network. You must restart the management network after making these changes to enable IP connectivity.
  6. Return to the VMware ESXi technology software main page, and navigate to the Troubleshooting Options menu option, and press Enter.
  7. From the page that is displayed, navigate to the ESXi Shell and SSH fields and enable both services.
    image:Figure showing how to enable the ESXi shell and                                     SSH
  8. Replace the native VMware HBA driver, as described in To Replace the Native VMware HBA Driver.

To Replace the Native VMware HBA Driver

  1. Log in to the host.
  2. In a browser, go to https://www.broadcom.com/support/oem/oracle/.
  3. Select the type and then model of the HBA that you want (7110116, 7110117).
  4. Select and download the VMware driver (generally, a VIB zip file) that is supported by the VMware release on your hardware platform.
  5. At a terminal window on the host, run the esxcfg-scsidevs -a command to view the current driver that is being used by the HBA.

    Note that the lsi_mr3 HBA driver is currently being used by the HBA.

        
        # esxcfg-scsidevs -a
        
        vmhba38 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba38 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
        vmhba39 ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba39 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
        vmhba0 ahci link-n/a  sata.vmhba0 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
        vmhba1 lsi_mr3 link-n/a  pscsi.vmhba1 (0:3:0.0) LSI MegaRAID SAS Invader Controller
        vmhba40  ahci link-n/a sata.vmhba40 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
        vmhba33 usb-storage link-n/a  usb.vmhba33 () USB 
        vmhba35 usb-storage link-n/a  usb.vmhba35 () USB 
        #
      
  6. Issue the vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter command to place the ESXi host into maintenance mode.
        
        # vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter
        'vim.Task:haTask-ha-host-vim.HostSystem.enterMaintenanceMode-394644943'
        /vmfs/volumes/535592a8-1d9ce82f-333b-0010e04000b4
        #
  7. Install the VMware HBA driver VIB zip file that you obtained earlier in this procedure using the --no-sig-check parameter.
         # esxcli software vib install -d
              "directory-path-to-the-driver-zip-file/megaraid_sas.zip" --no-sig-check
              Installation Result Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be
              rebooted for the changes to be effective. Reboot Required: true VIBs
              Installed: LSI_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_6.603.53.00-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820 VIBs
              Removed: VMware_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_5.34-9vmw.550.0.0.1331820 VIBs Skipped:
              /vmfs/volumes/535592a8-1d9ce82f-333b-0010e04000b4 
        #
      
  8. Reboot the ESXi host and reconnect with SSH.
  9. Issue the esxcli software vib list command to verify that the scsi-megaraid-sas VIB is present.
        
        # esxcli software vib list
        
        Name                 Version                               Vendor  Acceptance Level  Install Date
        
        ----------------     -------------                         ------  ----------------  ------------ 
        
        scsi-megaraid-sas    6.603.53.00-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820      LSI     VMwareCertified   2014-04-23
        ata-pata-amd         0.3.10-3vmw.550.0.0.1331820           VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ata-pata-atiixp      0.4.6-4vmw.550.0.0.1331820            VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ata-pata-cmd64x      0.2.5-3vmw.550.0.0.1331820            VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ata-pata-hpt3x2n     0.3.4-3vmw.550.0.0.1331820            VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ata-pata-pdc2027x    1.0-3vmw.550.0.0.1331820              VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ata-pata-serverworks 0.4.3-3vmw.550.0.0.1331820            VMware  VMwareCertified   2014-04-21 
        ....
      
  10. Issue the following commands to disable the lsi_mr3 native VMware HBA driver and to exit maintenance mode.
        # esxcli system module set --enabled=false --module=lsi_mr3
        # vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit
        'vim.Task:haTask-ha-host-vim.HostSystem.exitMaintenanceMode-16263936'
         # 
      
  11. Reboot the ESXi 5.5 host and reconnect with SSH.
  12. Issue the esxcfg-scsidevs -a command to verify that the HBA (in the following example:vmhba1) is now using the megaraid-sas driver.
        
        # esxcfg-scsidevs -a
         vmhba38  ahci  link-n/a  sata.vmhba38 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
         vmhba39  ahci  link-n/a  sata.vmhba39 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
         vmhba0   ahci  link-n/a  sata.vmhba0  (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
         vmhba1   megaraid_sas link-n/a  unknown.vmhba1 (0:3:0.0) LSI/Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS Invader Controller
         vmhba40  ahci  link-n/a  sata.vmhba40 (0:0:31.2) Intel Corporation Wellsburg AHCI Controller
         vmhba33 usb-storage   link-n/a usb.vmhba33 () USB 
         vmhba35 usb-storage   link-n/a usb.vmhba35 () USB 
         ...