ESXi 6 X710 Port Speed configuration

[AKene1]

Hi All,

We experience an issue that we cannot vmkping between 2 hosts with X710 which are direct connected with DAC cables. Auto nego is not on and I think thats the problem.

• vSphere 6.0U1
• Lenovo X3650M5 with Lenovo branded X710-DA2

Ethtool gives the following information.

[root@esxi02:/tmp/ESXi_x64] ethtool -i vmnic6

driver: i40e

version: 1.3.45

firmware-version: 4.42 0x80001949 1.1024.0

bus-info: 0000:81:00.0

Running latest nvmupdate.(this fails probably because it has a custom Lenovo FW)

[root@esxi02:/tmp/ESXi_x64] ./nvmupdate64e -l

Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool

NVMUpdate version 1.25.20.03

Copyright (C) 2013 - 2015 Intel Corporation.

WARNING: TO AVOID DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE, DO NOT EXIT OR REBOOT OR POWER OFF THE SYSTEM DURING THIS UPDATE

Config file read.

Inventory

Num Description Device-Id B:D Adapter Status

=== ====================================== ========= ===== ====================

01) Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Ad 8086-1572 129:00 Update not available

Tool execution completed with the following status: All operations completed successfully

Press any key to exit.

Check autoneg:

[root@esxi02:/tmp/ESXi_x64] ethtool -a vmnic6

Pause parameters for vmnic6:

Autonegotiate: off

RX: off

TX: off

Forcing autoneg

[root@esxi02:/tmp/ESXi_x64] ethtool --pause vmnic6 autoneg on

Cannot set device pause parameters: Operation not supported

We want to use 10gbit with DAC direct connection between 2 hosts for vMotion.

At this moment I cannot find a solution with the X710 cards. If we cannot find a solution on time, we probably move to Broadcom.

Please advice.

Thanks A.

[st4]

Hi Aart_K,

Just to double check you mentioned there is Lenovo firmware, is this an OEM model from Lenovo?

rgds,

wb

[AKene1]

Hi,

It's purchased from Lenovo, yes.

I managed to get direct attaching to work between 2 hosts after recreating the vSwitch.

Anyway now I connected the 10Gb links directly on a 10Gb switch and the X710 ports are now switching between 10000 FULL and down state.

I also tried older vmware drivers but this didnt help either. :/

regards,

[st4]

Hi Aart_K,

Thank you for the reply. Please contact Lenovo to further check with them as this is an OEM network adapter.

rgds,

wb