Intel X710 firmware 6.01 update on Dell Poweredge R730

[BCote1]

Hi,

I've got numerous virtualization servers running X710 cards and having some issues since we implemented ESXi 6.5. From the research and troubleshooting we've done, it seems to point to the networking, most commonly associated with a bad driver. After digging a fair bit, I noticed the new 1.4.3 i40en native driver available since the end of August. From VMWare HCL, it seems to be compatible with Firmware 6.01. Sadly, whether I use the ESX version or the Linux(from a live CD) version of the 6.01 nvmupdate, the tool states that I don't need any updates. Generally speaking, we do all firmware updates through Dell's Datacenter Repository Manager which gives us a nice bootable file that contains all the newer version of firmwares. In this case, the latest firmware from Dell is 5.40, which doesn't seem to exist in any HCL. it basically goes from 5.05 to 6.01.

Is it possible that the nvmupdate tool doesn't consider my Intel cards "compatible" and that I am forced to wait for Dell to release their version? or is there a way to push the firmware through? I've tried from 5.05 to 6.01 and did push the 5.40 on one server and then tried the nvmupdate tool, but still, it states no update available.

If anyone else is running the X710 on Dell R730's and were able to do the update, please let me know how that was possible.

Thanks so much,

Ben

[idata]

Hi BenoitCote,

Thank you for posting at Wired Communities. Is the X710 card an embedded network on your Dell* Poweredge R730? If this is an OEM onboard NIC then it is recommended to get the firmware from the OEM vendor. The firmware version 5.40 is not found on our NVMupdate version, you may refer to page 15 and 16 at https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/release-notes/xl710-ethernet-controller-feature-matrix.pdf for reference. Please feel free to update me. Thankssharon

[BCote1]

Hi Sharon,

one of the cards is integrated with the motherboard, while the other one is a normal PCI-Express card running off a Riser. I would expect at least the "normal" pci-express card to be able to find the firmware required. As far as 5.40, I also noticed that it was nowhere to be found in any of the compatibility lists anywhere(Vmware or Intel) which is why I cannot rollout this version. Igot it from this link ; https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7FP4R https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7FP4Rhttps://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7FP4R Intel NIC Family Version 18.0.0 Firmware for X710 and XL710 adapters Driver Details | Dell Canada https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7FP4R https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=7FP4R

Since it doesn't mention a specific firmware version, I had to install it and see what came out of it, which was the 5.40. I will be reaching out to Dell to see if they have a timeline on their version of the 6.01 firmware so that I can move forward from there.

Thanks,

[idata]

Hi BenoitCote,

Thank you for the information and clarification. Please contact Dell* to further check with the the firmware availability, feel free to update me.Thanks,sharon

[idata]

Hi BenoitCote,

Please feel free to update me if you have contacted Dell* and if there is other inquiries.Thanks,Sharon