ESXi upgrade preparation
With Cisco UCS you really need to make sure that your ESXi hosts are running the correct driver version. If you’re running NFS or FCoE storage into your ESXi hosts as either datastores or RDM disks then it’s critical that you have the right fnic and enic drivers. Even if you use the Cisco Custom image for ESXi upgrades the enic and fnic drivers may not be correct according to the compatibility matrix. I’ve had this issue in the past and I saw intermittent NFS datastores going offline for a Dev ESXi host and the resolution was to upgrade the enic driver which handles ethernet storage connectivity.
The best place to go is to VMware’s compatibility site for IO drivers which comes under the System/Servers. To find out which drivers you currently have you will need to check on the driver versions on the ESXi hosts. This can be done by following KB1027206. Using the values for the Vendor ID, Device ID, Sub-Vendor ID and Sub-Device ID it’s possible to pinpoint the interoperability with your respective hardware. In my case I have both VIC1340 and VIC1240 in the mix so I had to go through the process twice. Primarily you’ll be using the ‘ethtool -i’ command to find the driver version.
e.g. You can check the UCS VIC 1240 for FCoE CNAs on ESXi 5.5 Update 3 here
In this image you can see the version of enic drivers I’m running, 2.1.2.71 doesn’t match the firmware version that will be installed as part of the Cisco Custom ISO image. This shows that the enic driver version will need to be upgraded as part of the process.
Once you know the versions you’re next step is to go to the Cisco Interoperability matrix. You can check the required versions of drivers required for the software version you wish to update to based on your hardware. The first thing I noticed is that the versions of the enic and fnic drivers were not compatible and the firmware versions were different to what I currently see in Cisco UCSM.
Before any upgrades I’d also recommend validating the sequence that you’ll be upgrading either vCenter or ESXi. This makes sure that you’re not upgrading components out of sequence and causing yourself a world of unnecessary pain. You can check the Upgrade Sequence over on VMware’s site.
Add Patches to Update Manager
Import patches into Update Manager. Go to Admin view and select Baselines, select Import patches
Step 1: Open Admin View of Update Manager
Step 2: Select Import ESXi image
Step 3: Browse for the downloaded ISO image and click Next.
Step 4: Select Install the certificate and click Ignore
Step 5: Click Yes to confirm the certificate
Step 6: Verify the upload and click Next
Step 7: Enter the name of the baseline and click Finish
Step 8: Verify the baseline has been created in Update Manager
Step 9: Attach the new baselines to the ESXi hosts
Step 10: Select the new baseline from the list and click Attach
Step 11: Scan for the new baseline, select both Upgrades and Patches & Extensions
Step 12: Import patches for the enic and fnic drivers can also be done from the Admin View in Update Manager
Upgrade Process
Step 13: Prior to upgrading I’d advise turning off DRS by setting the cluster to Manual DRS. This can be done by select the cluster name, right-click and select Edit Settings. Select vSphere DRS and choose Manual. Click Ok to confirm.
Step 14: In the Update Manager tab for the ESXi host select Remediate
Step 15: Select the ESXi 5.5 Update 3b baseline created earlier and click Next
Step 16: Accept the EULA and click Next
Step 17: Click Next on the Upgrade screen
Step 18: Select immediately for the remediation time and click Next
Step 19: Click Next on Maintenance Mode Options
Step 20: Verify all the settings and click Finish
Step 21: The upgrade of the ESXi host will automatically be handled by Update Manager. If you open a KVM session to the server or blade you can see what is happening with the upgrade process. You can see that the version before the upgrade is different to the version after the upgrade
Step 22: Following the upgrade the host will appear as being Up To Date
Step 23: Once the host has been upgraded to the new version you can update any outstanding enic and fnic drivers. Be aware that these patches do require a reboot of the host.