After upgrading the firmware for the Broadcom NetXtreme E-Series Advanced Dual-Port 10Gb SFP+ Ethernet OCP 3.0 Adapter, the virtual machines began experiencing network connectivity issues.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading the firmware of the Broadcom NetXtreme E-Series Advanced Dual-Port 10Gb SFP+ Ethernet OCP 3.0 Adapter to version 229.2.75.0 (package 22.92.07.50), the virtual machines utilizing these Broadcom NICs began experiencing network connectivity issues. These issues manifested as intermittent or complete loss of network communication, adversely affecting the performance and availability of the impacted VMs. This situation suggests that the firmware upgrade may have introduced compatibility or connectivity issues, disrupting the normal operation of the network interfaces.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

Cause

After upgrading the firmware of the Broadcom NetXtreme E-Series Advanced Dual-Port 10Gb SFP+ Ethernet OCP 3.0 Adapter to version 229.2.75.0 (package 22.92.07.50) but did not update the driver to a compatible or latest version. They continued using an older bnxtnet driver, which is not listed in the Broadcom compatibility guide. This mismatch between the firmware and driver versions likely contributed to the network connectivity issues experienced by the virtual machines connected to the Broadcom NICs.

The driver and firmware details are as below:

Driver: bnxtnet
Firmware Version: 229.2.75.0 /pkg 22.92.07.50
Version: 216.0.50.0

Note: A similar issue has also been reported with driver version `223.0.152.0` when used with firmware version `229.2.75.0` (package `22.92.07.50`). If other lower driver versions are experiencing similar issues, please upgrade the driver to the latest compatible version to resolve the problem.

Resolution

Upgrade the driver to the latest version. According to the Broadcom compatibility guide, the latest compatible driver version for the Broadcom NetXtreme E-Series Advanced Dual-Port 10Gb SFP+ Ethernet OCP 3.0 Adapter with firmware version 229.2.75.0 (package 22.92.07.50) is `bnxtnet` version 229.0.146.0-1OEM. Upgrading to this driver version should resolve the network connectivity issues and ensure compatibility with the updated firmware.

Refer Broadcom Compatibility Guide for more details: Broadcom Compatibility Guide

Additional Information

Please visit the Broadcom portal and navigate to the "Drivers and Tools" section (Finding IO Drivers in the Broadcom Support Portal).

Search for the driver version 229.0.246.0-1OEM.  The bnxtnet driver is also included in this package.