Broadcom QLogic 57810 10G-BaseT CNA - PE R720.

Question

Hello,

I have four of the above adapters installed in two Dell PE R720 servers (two per server) running ESXi 6.0 Update 1. I've configured each CNA in PF mode (no NPAR, or NPAR + SR/IOV). Host 1 is showing 4 x Broadcom iSCSI Storage Adapters but Host 2 is only showing 2... Because the second host is only showing two of theses adapters, the VMware Software iSCSI Initiator is having issues binding VMK adapters to the physical ports on the CNA that doesn't have its associated storage adapters showing in ESXi. I've had one of the cards (the card with the missing storage adapters)replaced but it didn't make a difference. The firmware on the two adapters in Host 1 is different than the firmware on the adapters in Host 2 (but only by a minor revision). The bnx2 drivers on both hosts are also different (by a minor revision). Each card's BIOS is configured identically.

Please see attached for clarity on the issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Steve

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Hi, Does it see the other ports as NICs? Or are they completely missing? In the server that only two ports are showing, are both cards showing in system setup? What slots are the cards in?

stevenca · Answer

Yes, the other ports are there as NICs and they're working. Both cards are showing in the Dell Lifecycle Controller and I can configure them in there. They're installed in PCI slot 2 and slot 3.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Is it using one card and ignoring one or one port from each that it is using? I would check to make sure the driver/firmware sets match http://www.qlogic.com/Resources/Pages/VMware/VMwareCompatibilitySets.aspx

stevenca · Answer

Josh,

It is only showing the Storage Adapters for one card (i.e. the two ports on a single CNA), not a single port from each. The drivers for the firmware version of the card match (and the QLogic website doesn't have drivers for ESXi 6.0 Update 1 only 5.5 but VMware does have them). I'm at a loss here... I've even gone as far as starting over from scratch and reinstalling ESXi on that host. I've updated all firmware on the host as well (BIOS, etc.).

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

What does lspci output? Does it see the card? Can you try moving a card to slot 1 and see if that helps.

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Can you try check the PF settings on the NIC? You may want to change to multi function and back to see if that helps.

stevenca · Answer

Josh,

Here's the output relating to the CNAs:

0000:43:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [vmnic6]

0000:43:00.1 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [vmnic7]

0000:44:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [vmnic4]

0000:44:00.1 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation QLogic 57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [vmnic5]

stevenca · Answer

I'll give that a try and get back to you with the results. Thanks!

stevenca · Answer

So I changed from SF to MF and back to SF as well as moved the card from slot 2 to slot 1 and I still only have 2 iSCSI Storage Adapters in ESXi. I even went as far as changing the QLogic drivers in the host to match that of the other host that has the same configuration and still no luck. I've attach a screen shot of what the host looks like when I enable SF for one adapter and MF for the other (the one experiencing the issues). As you can see I am seeing the two iSCSI Adapters for the SF as expected and 4 iSCSI Adapters for the MF (as expected with nPAR enabled with 2 x iSOE enabled per port).

Could there be an issue with the server even though OMSA and DRAC logs check out OK?

Thanks

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

It is possible that is it is something with the server, but the hardware level parts see everything correctly. Can you trying booting to our live image and see if it sees all 4 ports? http://www.dell.com/support/contents/us/en/19/article/Product-Support/Self-support-Knowledgebase/enterprise-resource-center/Enterprise-Tools/support-live-image

stevenca · Answer

I'll give that a shot when I get the opportunity... I've spent a lot of time trying to get this working and I have to move forward with or without the iSOE feature. Update this thread when I do.

Thanks again Josh.

PowerEdge Hardware General

Broadcom QLogic 57810 10G-BaseT CNA - PE R720.

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