The information below is a living document about the use of VMware’s ESXi. As always, double-check the official documentation as this page may be out of date over time.

Mellanox Ethernet Adapters Using ConnectX4 nmlx5_core Driver

  • Downloads
  • Mellanox ESXi Drivers
    1. Upload MLNX-NATIVE-ESX-ConnectX–offline_bundle-.zip to Update Manager
    2. Create a static Update Manager Extension selecting the new Mellanox Native OFED ConnectX-4 Driver you uploaded.
    3. Patch the ESXi host with that driver and reboot.
  • Mellanox Management Tools
    • To install:
      1. Upload the 2 mft and nmst VIBs to ESXi
      2. esxcli software vib install -v mft-.x86_64.vib
      3. esxcli software vib install -v nmst-.x86_64.vib
      4. Reboot ESXi host.
    • To query (This may depend on your card):
      • To list parameters: esxcli system module parameters list -m nmlx5_core
      • To Set DRSS replace : esxcli system module parameters set -m nmlx5_core -p 'drss='
      • Starting the Firmware Tools Driver: /opt/mellanox/bin/mst start
      • Status: /opt/mellanox/bin/mst status -v
      • Hardware Query: /opt/mellanox/bin/flint -d mt4115_pciconf0 hw query
      • Query: /opt/mellanox/bin/flint -d mt4115_pciconf0 query
    • To Upgrade Firmware:
      1. Confirm Current Version: /opt/mellanox/bin/flint -d mt4115_pciconf0 query
      2. To Upgrade: /opt/mellanox/bin/flint -d mt4115_pciconf0 -i ~/fw-ConnectX4-rel--FlexBoot-.bin burn
      3. Confirm New Version: /opt/mellanox/bin/flint -d mt4115_pciconf0 query
      4. Reboot ESXi host
  • If you need to reinstall drivers:
    1. esxcfg-module -u nmlx5_core
    2. esxcli software vib remove -n nmlx5-core
    3. Reboot ESXi host
    4. Reinstall the driver through CLI or Update Manager

Sources