Virtual Wood Blog

VMware, vSphere, ESX, ESXi, PowerCLi and everything else

Virtual Wood Blog - VMware, vSphere, ESX, ESXi, PowerCLi and everything else

Tag Archives: ESXi 4.1 U1

How to remove – host currently has no management network redundancy

During times when a LAB is being used with limited resources it is not always possible to have 2 network cards on the ‘Management’ vSwitch. This is not an issue during LAB or test and dev but will always produce ‘host currently has no management network redundancy’ which just makes the display look messy. This can be resolved with the addition of an extra Advanced Option for HA.

The following explains how the error can be removed but please this is only to be used when not in a production environment which should always have a redundant ‘Management’ vSwitch.

Right click on the cluster to be modified
Select Edit Settings
Click on vSphere HA
At the bottom right hand corner click on Advanced Options
Copy the following das.ignoreRedundantNetWarning and paste it under Options with a Value of True
Click Ok
Select Cluster Features
Uncheck Turn On vSphere HA and click OK

Note: This will turn off HA on the cluster but this needs to happen for the Advanced Feature to take effect

Right click on the cluster to be modified
Select Edit Settings
Click on vSphere HA
Check Turn On vSphere HA and click OK

Note: This will turn on HA for the cluster and the error regards ‘host currently has no management network redundancy’ will be gone

By Paul Wood

ESX 4.1 install error on BL460c G7 – NIC driver fails to load

This is a very useful blog that has come from www.vi-tips.com and I have posted it below.

The HP BL460c G7 is on the VMware HCL list for ESX 4.1. However, when trying to install ESX 4.1 there’s an error during install – it fails to load drivers for the network adapter ("No network adapters were detected"). It doesn’t help to update all firmware to latest version (even though this should be done in any case…) (Update 2011.02.18: This problem persists on ESX 4.1 U1)

This is a known error and there’s a fix for it. However, it seems strange that the G7 blade has made it to the HCL list…
The problem is that the Integrated NC553i Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb NIC driver is not included in VMware’s installation ISO for ESX 4.1. There are two ways to solve the issue. One is to load a custom set of drivers for the NIC and the other is to use an HP VMware install image. If you’re using ESXi or scripted installation of ESX classic, then you have to use the HP image.
Custom NIC driver from VMware can be dowloaded here.
(Update 2011.02.18: Apparently, the NIC drivers are updated quite frequently at the moment. Go to this main link and then ‘plus out’ Driver CDs to find the most recent one.
HP image for ESX(i) can be downloaded from here.
The custom driver, when downloaded, is in an ISO format. To load it during installation, do the following:
  • Upload the ISO file to where you have the ESX installation image
  • On the Custom Drivers page in the wizard, choose Yes and click on Add. It will tell you to load the driver CD (see picture below)
  • Unmount the ESX installation CD and mount the driver ISO in stead. This can be done without interrupting the installation. You will be prompted to verify the custom driver package, click OK (see picture below)
  • That’s it. at a later stage in the wizzard, you will be prompted to reinsert the installation ISO. Do that when prompted.

 

By Paul Wood