ESXi – Driver VIB update using ESXCLI

Nothing groundbreaking here folks, but this is a quick and easy way to upgrade the drivers (in this case Network Intel & Broadcom) on your host(s)

I’ve done this many times for various reasons: Misbehaving drivers after upgrades, Version control, “’cause I wanna'”. etc

Login to your host with the ssh client of choice (putty of course!) and put it into Maintenance Mode (evacuate guests as necessary) & then determine the required drivers and current version;

esxcfg-nics -l will list all the installed NIC’s and their details. Here we are using a quad port Broadcom BCM5720 and a Dual Port Intel I350

ethtool -i vmnic# will show you the driver/fw details in use per vmnic# you request (we’ll do one for each type)

From this query, we can determine that the Broadcom BCM5720 is using driver “tg3” @ Version 3.133d.v55.1 & the Intel I350 is using the “IGB” driver @ Version 4.2.16.8

Download the VIB (VMware Information Bundle” from VMware.com  Search fpr the drivers (I search fro IGB and Netxtreme) in the Drivers & Tools catalog. Download and save them locally.

From each package, extract the ZIp file and save to a transport folder.  ( in this case, c:\Source\Out ).

Copy them up to your host using WINSCP (or your tool of choice) and save to the folder you want (\TMP) for me.

..and you’re ready to roll. Upgrade 1st set of drivers then second (and any subsequent) before doing the requested reboot.

hint- after typing in the first few chars of the filename, hit tab to autocomplete……

As long as the install was successful, reboot the host adding an appropriate reason, wait the grace period and await the reboot.

Check versions against original with the same ethtool -l commands as earlier, and they look to have incremented nicely.

Original IGB 4.2.16.8, New version 5.2.7

Original tg3 3.133d.v55.1, New version 3.136e.v55.1

Job done, exit Maintenance Mode;

Run DRS or otherwise move your guests back onto the host.

Have a Coffee, you’ve earned it. 🙂