Looking for firmware
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That's one reason I don't like Dell or HP. They put their name on stuff they didn't make and then makes firmware and drivers difficult to find, especially on older stuff.
Anyway straight HBA card on R640 seems to be the Dell HBA330.
According to this, it's just a card with the LSI SAS3008 controller, also known as the SAS 9300-8i controller card.
Here are the latest firmware and tools
https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9300-8i#downloadsAnd here is a guide from someone who flashed an IBM card wih the same controller. Maybe it could be of assistance in your case too:
https://www.servethehome.com/flash-lsi-sas-3008-hba-e-g-ibm-m1215-mode/ -
Need the service tag to pick up the right driver and firmware.
We've seen some really nasty bugs patched by some of the latest SAS HBA firmware out of Dell (they cook their own).
We deploy converged solution sets on their stuff (2+ nodes + JBOD(s)).
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@phlipelder said in Looking for firmware:
Need the service tag to pick up the right driver and firmware.
We've seen some really nasty bugs patched by some of the latest SAS HBA firmware out of Dell (they cook their own).
We deploy converged solution sets on their stuff (2+ nodes + JBOD(s)).
And since you're having trouble installing the firmware versions you mentioned, I would contact Dell support as well.
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@phlipelder said in Looking for firmware:
We've seen some really nasty bugs patched by some of the latest SAS HBA firmware out of Dell (they cook their own).
They do run their own tree, but all the OEM's are a bit odd sometimes in when they pick and chose to checkout patches from Avago. It's still primarily (Whatever their name is this week, maybe Broadcom?) developing the firmware.
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@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
The PCI card was make by LSI Logics/Broadcom. Anybody have anything?
That doesn't actually matter. You need to check the specific PCI-ID against the VMware VCG (and more specifically vSAN VCG if using vSAN).
For vSphere VCG treat the firmware version as a minimum. For vSAN see that version as an absolute (unless VCG engineering and vSAN GSS advise otherwise).
Given this is an external HBA I'm going to say this isn't vSAN (Not supported with Dell).The VCG entry you are likely looking for is here: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=34856
The inbox driver is lsi-msgpt3 version 16.00.01.00-1vmw and the firmware minimum is 15.17.09.06
If you want to discuss newer/async stuff talk to Dell. If you want to be able to manage this within vCenter (driver/firmware patching) deploy Dell OpenManage (It is like 100$ per server). -
@pete-s said in Looking for firmware:
That's one reason I don't like Dell or HP. They put their name on stuff they didn't make and then makes firmware and drivers difficult to find, especially on older stuff.
Anyway straight HBA card on R640 seems to be the Dell HBA330.Actually the internal HBA option is the HBA330+. The 330 was on the 13Gen platform. Same ASIC, same firmware, different connector.
According to this, it's just a card with the LSI SAS3008 controller, also known as the SAS 9300-8i controller card.
There are multiple sub-families within the 3008. Dell also runs their own tree.Here are the latest firmware and tools
https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9300-8i#downloadsOutside of highly unsupported hacks to fix queue depth on the H310 I wouldn't ever use a non-Dell Firmware with their devices. They run their own branch.
And here is a guide from someone who flashed an IBM card wih the same controller. Maybe it could be of assistance in your case too:
https://www.servethehome.com/flash-lsi-sas-3008-hba-e-g-ibm-m1215-mode/Just use the OpenManage Plugin for vCenter. This or iDRAC are far easier to update things with.
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@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
I contacted VMware support and am thinking that they are full of crap. I'm on driver version 12 and supposedly need to be on version 16. I'm about ready to bang my head against the desk.
Thank you for taking my phone call today. We discovered that the ESXi host connecting to the storage with external HBA "Mass storage controller: Avago (LSI Logic) Dell 12Gbps SAS HBA external" The driver for that device is "lsi-msgpt3 version 12.00.02.00-11vmw" on the ESXi host version 6.5 U1. The ESXi 6.5 U2 host that is not able to communicate with storage have driver version "16.00.01.00-1vmw.650.2.50.8294253" I presume that this issue is related to the firmware version on the PCI device that we try to communicate trough. Please contact your hardware vendor in order to get correct combination and update it accordingly to their recommendation. I will keep this case open and wait for your update as agreed.Why do you think they are full of crap. Ancient drivers can do really weird stuff with firmware versions they were never tested with. The External HBA in general is a crazy rarely used device and historically has fun bugs. If you don't like what they said call Dell...
I promise you LSI/Broadcom will ignore your support requests if it's a Dell part. -
@storageninja said in Looking for firmware:
That doesn't actually matter. You need to check the specific PCI-ID against the VMware VCG (and more specifically vSAN VCG if using vSAN).
For vSphere VCG treat the firmware version as a minimum. For vSAN see that version as an absolute (unless VCG engineering and vSAN GSS advise otherwise).
Given this is an external HBA I'm going to say this isn't vSAN (Not supported with Dell).Definitely not vSAN. All in one datastore and not expanded.
@storageninja said in Looking for firmware:
The inbox driver is lsi-msgpt3 version 16.00.01.00-1vmw and the firmware minimum is 15.17.09.06
This definitely sounds right. I'll be calling Dell Support today.
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@storageninja said in Looking for firmware:
@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
I contacted VMware support and am thinking that they are full of crap. I'm on driver version 12 and supposedly need to be on version 16. I'm about ready to bang my head against the desk.
Thank you for taking my phone call today. We discovered that the ESXi host connecting to the storage with external HBA "Mass storage controller: Avago (LSI Logic) Dell 12Gbps SAS HBA external" The driver for that device is "lsi-msgpt3 version 12.00.02.00-11vmw" on the ESXi host version 6.5 U1. The ESXi 6.5 U2 host that is not able to communicate with storage have driver version "16.00.01.00-1vmw.650.2.50.8294253" I presume that this issue is related to the firmware version on the PCI device that we try to communicate trough. Please contact your hardware vendor in order to get correct combination and update it accordingly to their recommendation. I will keep this case open and wait for your update as agreed.Why do you think they are full of crap. Ancient drivers can do really weird stuff with firmware versions they were never tested with. The External HBA in general is a crazy rarely used device and historically has fun bugs. If you don't like what they said call Dell...
I promise you LSI/Broadcom will ignore your support requests if it's a Dell part.Concur. Most vendors are pretty good about getting compatibility matrices in their ReadMe.TXT files … most.
Whether it's hardware and the OS to go on it, firmware and PCB versions, firmware and driver versions, and other such combinations one needs to be mindful of their interactions or failures to interact. We have a parts bin full of broken promises in that department as we build and test all solution sets before deploying.
EDIT: I didn't complete my thought: Old and new mix do they not.
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@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
Definitely not vSAN. All in one datastore and not expanded.
You have an external RAID Array I hope? This HBA does raw pass through well...
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@storageninja said in Looking for firmware:
@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
Definitely not vSAN. All in one datastore and not expanded.
You have an external RAID Array I hope? This HBA does raw pass through well...
Correct. The storage controllers on the storage handles the RAID. Just got off of the phone with Dell support, updated the firmware, and that failed to fix the issue. Next concern would be the firmware being up to date. Working with a Dell PowerVault MD3420 with current firmware version of 08.25.04.60 with the latest from Dell being 08.25.14.60. Biggest concern is the supported OS for the firmware. It is showing that the latest it will support is ESXi 6.5. I think I need to roll the host back to 6.5U1 and plan on replacing this storage next year.
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Well, updated the firmware of the storage card and still failed to see the datastore. Next thought is that the firmware of the controllers on the datastore are so out of date that nothing newer will work with it. Looks like I am on the latest version of ESXi that will work with this datastore.
So now the plan is to roll back the one host back to the same version of ESXi as the other 2 hosts so that it can see the datastore again and bring it back into production. We are planning on replacing the datastore next year to continue staying up to date.
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@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
Looks like I am on the latest version of ESXi that will work with this datastore.
You using VMFS3 or some nonsense?
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@storageninja said in Looking for firmware:
@nerdydad said in Looking for firmware:
Looks like I am on the latest version of ESXi that will work with this datastore.
You using VMFS3 or some nonsense?
VMFS6
