VI Io Guide
VI Io Guide
VI Io Guide
What's New
Changes made in the last 7 days include:
Introduction
VMware ESX software delivers high performance I/O for PCI based SCSI, RAID, Fibre Channel, and Ethernet controllers. To achieve high performance, these devices are
accessed directly through device drivers in the ESX host, and not through a host operating system, as with VMware Workstation and VMware Server products.
Support for I/O devices listed in this document is specific to device compatibility with the VMware ESX versions listed in the corresponding tables. This does not imply a
statement of support for adding a device to any certified system. System vendors determine device compatibility with a given system. Please refer to the compatibility list provided
by the system vendor before adding a certified device to a certified system.
NOTE: IDE RAID and SATA RAID are not supported for the VMFS file system.
NOTE: You cannot simultaneously run devices using the mptscsi driver and ones using the mptscsi_2xx driver.
NOTE: You cannot simultaneously run devices using the aacraid driver and ones using the aacraid_esx30 driver.
NOTE: You cannot simultaneously run devices using the megaraid2 driver and ones using the megaraid_sas driver.
If you are having a technical issue with 3rd party HW/SW and it is not found on this list, please refer to our 3rd Party HW/SW support policy at http://www.vmware.com/support/
policies/ThirdParty.html.
Footnotes:
1 . This driver has the following maximum configuration limitation:<br> Physical NICs
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp
Supported Maximums<br> 1-Gb Ethernet ports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 8<br>10-Gb Ethernet ports
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 8
2 . Please refer to http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2045704 for GOS supported on SR-IOV in VMware vSphere 5.1 or later
3 . Download driver from http://www.vmware.com/download/vsphere/drivers_tools.html
4 . Download driver from http://www.vmware.com/download/vsphere/drivers_tools.html
5 . This driver has the following maximum configuration limitation:<br> Physical NICs
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Supported
Maximums<br> 20 Gb Ethernet ports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 4
6 . iBFT Enabled
7 . Software FCoE Boot Enabled
8 . Supports 25G/50G NIC speeds starting 6.0U2
9 . driver not certified for iSER
10 . This driver works with VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi-6.0.0-20180604001-standard. Reason being driver certification is done with this build, and
driver queue handling logic only works with fixes coming into this patch (from vSphere 6.0 U3f, EP14, Build 8934907 onward)
11 . FCoE Boot supported
12 . Virtual SAN 5.5 can only support internal drives and cannot be used with the external capabilities of this controller.
13 . Please refer to the following Marvell webpage for a list of matching driver combinations that can be installed together: <a href='https://www.marvell.com/
ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-performance-nics/esxi-drivers/'>Compatible ESXi Driver Versions for Marvell FastLinQ QL41xxx and QL45xxx
Adapters</a>
14 . There is a known issue with this driver version when used in a Compellent SAN environment.See <a href='https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/
bug/CSCvp09971 '>https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvp09971</a>
15 . Important info – see KB 600345 prior to downloading - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/60345
16 . Virtual SAN might report storage disks as inaccessible. See KB article: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2097415
17 . Requires ahci driver version 3.0-27vmw, available in VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi600-201809001, Release Date: September 13, 2018 (https://
kb.vmware.com/kb/57797 ) or VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi600-201711001, Release date November 09, 2017 (https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2151126 ).
Either patch must be installed.
18 . Note: Driver not supported on LPe12xx (DID f100). See https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?
cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2145185
19 . This driver has the following maximum configuration limitation:<br> Physical NICs
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp
Supported Maximums<br>1 Gb Ethernet ports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp up to 32
20 . Support iSCSI SAN Boot using iBFT
21 . This version of the driver has known issues and is not advised. See <a href='https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/60421'>https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/60421</
a>
22 . Supports 25G NIC speed starting with 6.0U2
23 . Be2net driver ver. 4.0.88.0-1vmw in ESXi 5.0 base image is not supported in HP FlexFabric/Flex-10 or IBM Virtual Fabric Adapter (VFA) environment. Before
upgrading to vSphere 5.0, please obtain an updated driver from Emulex, HP, or IBM.
24 . Download driver from https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI65-BROADCOM-BNXT-2080&productId=614
25 . For HPE device certifications driver bundle, click on following <a href='https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI65-
BROADCOM-BNXT-2080&productId=614' target='_blank'>device driver download link</a>
26 . Software FCoE Enabled
27 . Software FCoE Enabled.
28 . UnPlanned HotPlug not supported on this driver/firmware combination
29 . This certification is performed using the patch build # VMware ESXi 5.5.0 build-2403361 ,Because controller is not being recognized by the hpsa driver with
GA build of ESXi 5.5 update 2.
30 . Client Type: Vendor
31 . This driver has the following maximum configuration limitation:<br> Physical NICs
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Supported
Maximums<br> 10 Gb Ethernet ports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 10
32 . Firmware versions listed are the minimum supported versions. Refer to http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2030818 for additional information on other supported driver
and firmware combinations
33 . This driver has the following maximum configuration limitation:<br> Physical NICs
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp Supported
Maximums<br> 20 Gb Ethernet ports &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 16
34 . Support for the driver is only from ESXi 6.0 u1b onward. There is no support for previous releases.
35 . This certification is performed using the patch build # VMware ESXi 6.0.0 build-3380124 because this controller will go into a server that will support only
E5-2600v4 processors and the support for that processors is included in VMware ESXi 6.0.0 build-3380124
36 . Requires ahci driver version 3.0-28vmw, available in VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi600-201903001, available here: <a href='https://
docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/rn/esxi600-201903001.html#-esxi-6-0-0-20190304001'>https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/rn/
esxi600-201903001.html#-esxi-6-0-0-20190304001</a>
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THE VMWARE COMPATIBILITY GUIDE IS UPDATED FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. FOR THE LATEST VMWARE COMPATIBILITY GUIDE,
PLEASE GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility