ESX and HS22 : some pointers

I recently had some problems with ESX(i) and HS22 blades. Thought I just blog them for future reference.

First of all 2 driver problems. You'll need to install the vsphere cli to solve them (http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli/)

• If the management network for your HS22 blade is acting funny and you can't seem to get digital video (KVM) on your HS22 blade to work, you'll need to update the broadcom driver. It can be downloaded from the vmware site http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx_esxi_40_broadcom_bnx2_dt/ZHcqYmRqZHRidGR3
• If you are using the Emulex CFFH oneconnect or CNA or whatever you want to call the card, you'll also need to install the driver before any of the nics show up. Same site, other link http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx_esxi4x_serverengines_dt/ZHcqYmRAZXdiZHdlZQ==

The procedure for both drivers is similar:

• Extract the ISO
• Find the offline bundle f.e BCM-bnx2-2.0.7c-1.0.4.00000-offline_bundle-229199.zip in the offline-bundle directory
• Install the driver by executing : vihostupdate.pl --server --password --username root --install --bundle c:\path\to\zip\BCM-bnx2-2.0.7c-1.0.4.00000-offline_bundle-229199.zip

Another problem. If you have an ESXi recovery cd for you HS22 with Part number (P/N) 60Y0073 you might find that the cd is not booting. If you put the cd in a laptop you will see why. The manufacturer has burned the iso literally on the cd. This means you will need to copy the iso file to you hard disk and then properly burn it to a cd with for example cdburnerxp , brasero or disk utility in Mac. Alternatively, you can open a call at IBM and wait for a replacement part

Lastly while updating the HS22 I have been encountering a lot of problems with doing firmware upgrades. One neat trick I learned is that the uEFI will load it defaults settings after 3 unsuccessful boots! Another thing I learned is that it is better to update the IMM first and then the rest of the components. What I do is now

• Update the IMM via the AMM Blade Taks > Firmware Update. This allows me to push the IMM firmware update to multiple blade at the same time
• Wait until the blades get rediscovered and are stable. This means waiting around 10 minutes after the update
• Update the rest of the components via the BOMC (Bootable Media Creator). If you don't know this tool, here is the link http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/selectproduct?taskind=2&brandind=5000020&familyind=5375180&typeind=0&modelind=0&osind=0&psid=sp&continue.x=1&matrix=Y#Bootable%20Media%20Creator
• Update some components manually like the Emulex CNA (the first firmware update is not supported via the BOMC)