Updating the nfnic Driver

Confirm what version is currently running on the ESXi host.


[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli software vib list |grep nfnic
nfnic                          4.0.0.17-0vmw.670.2.48.13006603       VMW     VMwareCertified   2019-04-15

[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli storage core device list -p
naa.624a937016d9d3754f8a461800011016
   Display Name: PURE Fibre Channel Disk (naa.624a937016d9d3754f8a461800011016)
...
   Device Max Queue Depth: 32
   No of outstanding IOs with competing worlds: 32

The device max queue depth and outstanding IOs for the PE is currently set to 32.

For this ESXi Host the nfnic driver 4.0.0.17 is installed which does not have any supported module parameters.


[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli system module parameters list -m nfnic
[root@ESXi-3:~]

The nfnic driver 4.0.0.35 has been copied out from the 4.0.4 VMware related drivers ISO that can be downloaded from Cisco. The nfnic package can also be downloaded from VMware. The nfnic folder was copied to a datastore in the VMware environment that each of the hosts were connected to, in this case an ISO Repository.


[root@ESXi-3:~] ls /vmfs/volumes/sn1-m20-c12-25-ISO-Repository/VMware/Drivers/nfnic_ESXi_6.7U2/
README.html                                               VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nfnic-4.0.0.35-offline_bundle-13303543.zip  nfnic-4.0.0.35-1OEM.670.0.0.8169922.x86_64.vib
Release_Notes_nfnic-4.0.0.35.txt                          doc

Here is the workflow for upgrading the nfnic driver:

The host is put into maintenance mode (either from the CLI or UI)


[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli system maintenanceMode set --enable true

The nfnic driver is upgraded via esxcli next


[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli software vib install -d "/vmfs/volumes/sn1-m20-c12-25-ISO-Repository/VMware/Drivers/nfnic_ESXi_6.7U2/VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nfnic-4.0.0.35-offline_bundle-13303543.zip"

The host will need to be rebooted after the nfnic driver is upgraded


[root@ESXi-3:~] esxcli system shutdown reboot --reason "nfnic driver upgrade"

Once the reboot is complete the nfnic queue depth parameter can be set.