Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.x

Purpose

This article provides the different methods for installing asynchronous driver releases on ESXi 5.x. For more information about installing a specific async driver release, see the /doc/README.txt file within the async driver release zip file.

Async drivers are developed by third-party vendors and are subjected to the VMware certification process. They are released in a ESXi software package called a vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB). To download async drivers signed by VMware, visit the VMwareDownload Center.

Note: This article is for vSphere 5. For more information about installing async drivers in vSphere 4, see Installing async drivers on ESX/ESXi 4.x (1032936).

Resolution

There are several methods to install async drivers on ESXi 5.x:

Prior to a new ESXi installation
Existing ESXi installation using esxcli and offline bundle async driver zip file
Existing ESXi installation using esxcli and async driver VIB file
Existing ESXi installation using VMware Update Manager

Prior to a new ESXi installation

An ESXi 5.x fresh installation using a CD or ISO does not provide any option to inject an async driver. Instead, you must use Image Builder to inject the async driver into a new CD or ISO image. For more information, see the Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder CLI section of thevSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

Note: These steps are necessary if the async driver is required for the ESXi server to have network connectivity.

To add async drivers to the ESXi installation ISO:

Launch the vSphere 5.x PowerCLI command line.
Download a copy of the ESXi offline bundle depot and async driver zip file.
Extract the contents of the async driver zip file and identify the offline-bundle.zip files(s).
Use the Add-ESXSoftwareDepot commandlet to add both the ESXi offline bundle and async offline bundle as depots.

For example:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\path\to\new-async-driver-offline-bundle.zip, C:\path\to\esxi-offline-bundle.zip

Example for ESXi 5.0:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\path\to\new-async-driver-offline-bundle.zip, C:\path\to\VMware-ESXi-5.0.0-469512-depot.zip

Example for ESXi 5.0 Update 1:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\path\to\new-async-driver-offline-bundle.zip, C:\path\to\update-from-esxi5.0-5.0_update01.zip

The output appears similar to:

Depot Url
---------
zip:C:\path\to\new-async-driver-offline-bundle.zip?index.xml
zip:C:\VMware-ESXi-5.0.0-469512-depot.zip?index.xml
Verify that the async driver is now available as a software package.

For example:

Get-EsxSoftwarePackage

The output appears similar to:

Name Version Vendor Release Date
------------------- ------- ---------- ------------
driver-package-name 1.2.3.4 vendorname mm/dd/yyyy
Clone an existing image profile:
1. Use the Get-EsxImageProfile commandlet to list available image profiles.
  
  For example:
  
  Get-EsxImageProfile
  
  The output appears similar to:
  
  Name                       Vendor Last Modified Acceptance
  -------------------------- ------ ------------- ---------------
  ESXi-5.0.0-456551-standard VMware mm/dd/yyyy    PartnerSupported
  ESXi-5.0.0-456551-no-tools VMware mm/dd/yyyy    PartnerSupported
2. Clone an existing available image profile by specifying a new name for the profile.
  
  For example:
  
  New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-5.0.0-456551-standard" -name"NewAsyncProfile" -Vendor "MyCorp"
  
  The output appears similar to:
  
  Name Vendor Last Modified Acceptance Level
  --------------- ------ ------------- ----------------
  NewAsyncProfile MyCorp mm/dd/yyyy PartnerSupported
Use the Add-EsxSoftwarePackage commandlet to add the async driver to the new image profile, specifying the package name from step 5.

For example:

Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "NewAsyncProfile" -SoftwarePackage "driver-package-name"

The output appears similar to:

Name Vendor Last Modified Acceptance Level
--------------- ------ ------------- ----------------
NewAsyncProfile VMware today PartnerSupported
Export the new image profile. Run the Export-EsxImageProfile command to export the image profile as an ISO.

For example:

Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "NewAsyncProfile" -ExportToISO -filepath C:\NewAsyncProfile.iso
If necessary, burn the ISO to a new CD. Use the CD or ISO to boot the server and install ESXi. Follow the normal installation procedures.

Existing ESXi installation using esxcli and offline bundle async driver zip file

You can install async drivers on an existing ESXi host from a specific VIB file, from a depot URL, from an offline bundle, or using an image profile. For more information, see Upgrading and Migrating Your Hosts - Performing the Upgrade or Migration in thevSphere Upgrade Guide.

The offline bundle zip file is copied to the ESXi host using the datastore browser, and is installed using the esxcli utility in the ESXi shell.

Note: This requires remote ESXi network connectivity using the vSphere Client.

To install the async drivers:

Extract the contents of the async driver zip file.
Identify the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
Log into the ESXi host using the vSphere Client with administrator privileges, such as root.
Using the Datastore Browser, upload the offline-bundle.zip file(s) to an ESXi host's datastore.
Enter the host into maintenance mode.
Log in as root to the ESXi console through SSH or iLO/DRAC.
Run this command to install drivers using the offline bundle (this requires an absolute path):

esxcli software vib install –d /path/offline-bundle.zip

For example:

esxcli software vib install –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/offline-bundle.zip
Reboot the ESXi host.
Exit maintenance mode.

Note: An ESX host can be updated remotely using the esxcli utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more details on usingesxcli, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation page.

Existing ESXi installation using esxcli and async driver VIB file

You can install async drivers on an existing ESXi host from an async driver VIB file. The VIB file is copied to the ESXi host using the datastore browser, and installed using esxcli in the ESXi shell.

Note: This requires remote ESXi network connectivity using the vSphere Client.

To install the async drivers:

Extract the contents of the async driver zip file.
Identify the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
Extract the contents of the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
Identify the async-driver.vib file(s).
Log into the ESXi host using the vSphere Client with administrator privileges, such as root.
Using the Datastore Browser, upload the async-driver.vib file(s) to an ESXi host’s datastore.
Enter the host into maintenance mode.
Log in as root to the ESXi console through SSH or iLO/DRAC.
Run this command to install drivers from the VIB file (this requires an absolute path):

esxcli software vib install –v /path/async-driver.vib

For example:

esxcli software vib install –v /vmfs/volumes/datastore/async-driver.vib
Reboot the ESXi host.
Exit maintenance mode.

Note: An ESX host can be updated remotely using the esxcli utility, which is part of the vSphere CLI. For more details on usingesxcli, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation page.

Existing ESXi installation using VMware Update Manager

You can install async drivers on an existing ESXi host using VMware Update Manager. For more information, see Using vSphere ESXi Image Builder CLI in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

To install the async drivers:

Extract the contents of the async driver zip file.
Identify the offline-bundle.zip file(s).
From vCenter Server, go to Home > Update Manager.
Click the Patch Repository tab.
Click the Import Patches link at the top right of the screen.
Click Finish.

The async driver is added to the patch repository.
Create a Host Extension baseline and remediate the ESXi host. For more information, see the Update Manager Administration Guide.

Note: This guide can be found on the vSphere Update Manager Documentation page.

Based on VMware KB 2005205

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