Mellanox Technologies ********************* MLNX-OFED ESX Driver for VMware(R) Infrastructure 5.1Ux/5.5Ux Release Notes Driver Version 1.9.10.0 Last Updated: July 15, 2015 =============================================================================== Table of Contents =============================================================================== 1. Overview 2. Main Features Overview 3. Contents of Mellanox OFED ESXi 4. Supported HCAs 5. Known Issues =============================================================================== 1. Overview =============================================================================== These are the release notes of Ethernet EN Driver for VMware(R) vSphere 5.1Ux/5.5Ux. This document provides instructions on Ethernet driver for Mellanox Technologies ConnectX3/ConnectX2 based adapter cards with VMware ESXi Server environment. =============================================================================== 2. Legacy Features Overview =============================================================================== - Single/Dual port - MSI-X / Int-X - NetQueue support - Multiple Tx/Rx rings - HW Tx/Rx checksum offload - Large Send Offload (TCP Segmentation Offload) - VLAN Tx/Rx acceleration (HW VLAN stripping/insertion) - Ethtool support - NAPI support - WOL (only on supported hardware) - NC-SI - Auto moderation - Net dump (Only for ESXi5.5Ux) - RSS Queues - Fixed Pass-Through - 10G - 40G (Only for ESXi5.5Ux) =============================================================================== 3. New Features =============================================================================== MLNX-EN-ESX-1.9.10.0 provides the following changes and new features: - iSER - RoCE =============================================================================== 4. Contents of Mellanox OFED ESXi Package =============================================================================== MLNX-EN-ESX package contains: o MLNX-OFED-ESX-1.9.10.0-10EM-550.0.0.1331820 - Hypervisor bundle For ESXi 5.5Ux o MLNX-OFED-ESX-1.9.10.0-10EM-510.0.0.799733 - Hypervisor bundle For ESXi 5.1Ux o Each bundle contains the following kernel modules: - mlx4_en (ConnectX family Ethernet driver) - mlx4_core (ConnectX family low-level PCI driver) - ib-addr (IB Address Translation) - ib-cm (InfiniBand Connection Manager support) - ib-core (Core kernel InfiniBand API) - ib-mad (Kernel IB MAD API) - ib-sa (InfiniBand subnet administration query support) - ib-umad (InfiniBand userspace MAD packet access) - mlx4-ib (Mellanox Technologies ConnectX core driver) - rdma-cm (DMA Connection Manager support) - ib-iser (Mellanox Technologies iSER driver) The driver package is distributed as an offline bundle (.zip file). =============================================================================== 5. Supported HCAs =============================================================================== This release supports Mellanox Technologies Ethetnet HCA: - ConnectX-3 Pro: FW 2.30.8000 and above - ConnectX-3: FW 2.11.0500 and above - ConnectX-2: FW 2.9.1200 and above Please note that older FW versions were not tested with this release. For the latest firmware versions, visit: http://www.mellanox.com/page/vmware_matrix or http://www.mellanox.com/supportdownloader/ =============================================================================== 6. Known Issues =============================================================================== - Updating the driver from the last certified driver (1.6.1-1 for ESXi5.1) is not supported. Workaround: Uninstall any privious drive prior to installing the new driver manually. - Frequent vSwitch MTU changes or link/unlink operations during background heavy stress traffic might cause traffic loss. - WoL is not supported in 40Gb mode. - Netdump is not supported in ESXi5.1Ux due to an ESXi5.1Ux issue with pseudo devices. - Frequent changes of ring size during background heavy stress traffic is not supported. - iSER: Manually unloading and reloading mlx4 low-level drivers may stop iSER from working. - iSER: ESXi stops trying to reconnect a target that is lost for a long period of time. See VMWare KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2004684 - iSER: RoCE does not work against MLNX_OFED_LINUX-2.1 GA. - iSER: Rescanning vmhbas while creating and deleting targets may freeze the scan. - Setting/changing the link speed is currently not supported. - On some adamper cards, when running the "esxcli network nic down -n " command, the interface does not display the link speed as 0Mb. =============================================================================== 7. Fixed Issues =============================================================================== None