QLogic qedi (HW iSCSI) and qedf (HW FCoE) driver not present in ESXi 7.0 GA OEM Custom Images released on 2020-04-02

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The purpose of this article is to notify the impact of fresh install scenario of ESXi 7.0 using the images released on 2020-04-02. For upgrade experience, refer to VMware Knowledge Base article Important information before upgrading to vSphere 7.0.
This article will help you to make a right decision to either proceed with fresh install using current released image and apply driver patch to get the functionality or to wait for the refreshed custom image from OEM to be available.

Please note that, there is no impact:

• If you do not have relevant devices on your servers.
• If you do not need iSCSI and FCoE functionality though you are using these devices.

Symptoms:

• VMware ESXi 7.0 GA Image, ESXi 7.0 GA OEM Custom images from DellEMC and HPE released on 2020-04-02 does not include HW iSCSI storage driver "qedi" and HW FCoE storage driver "qedf" for the Marvell/QLogic FastLinQ QL45xxx 100/50/25/10G and QL41xxx 25/10G Ethernet Controllers.
• On Fresh install of ESXi 7.0 GA build using these 2020-04-02 released Installer Images on a Server with QLogic FastLinQ QL45xxx 100/50/25/10G and QL41xxx 25/10G Ethernet Controllers, iSCSI storage functionality and FCoE storage functionality will not be not available.

Note: If you do not need iSCSI storage and FCoE functionality with QLogic FastLinQ controllers or if these controller are not present, you can proceed with fresh installation of ESXi using the current released images.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

Download the correct iSCSI and FCoe storage drivers and functionality. You can download the QLogic FastlinQ driver package version 5.0.189 or higher available for ESXi 7.0 and update qedentv (version 3.40.9.0 or later), qedrntv (version 3.40.9.1 or later), qedi (version 2.19.5.0 or later) and qedf (version 2.2.4.0 or later) drivers on ESXi 7.0 installed hosts. To check the drivers compatible for your adapters, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

1. Download the required drivers. Navigate to https://www.vmware.com.
2. Click Downloads > vSphere.
3. Select version as 7.0.
4. Click Drivers & Tools.
5. Click Driver CDs.
6. Find the VMware ESXi 7.0 Network/iSCSI/FCoE Driver Set for Marvell FastLinQ Ethernet 45000 and 41000 Series Controllers.
7. Click Go to Downloads link.

Notes:

• Server OEM Vendors may include these drivers in their upcoming ESXi 7.0 Custom Image updates. Contact your respective Server Vendors for more details.
• There is no plan to include the  qedi (HW iSCSI) and qedf (HW FCoE) storage drivers in VMware ESXi 7.0 GA standard image or  in the upcoming 7.0 release standard images.