The popular USB Native Driver Fling for ESXi has just been updated to version 1.6 and is one of our larger releases.
Here are some of the key new features, for complete list, please refer to the Changelog tab on the Fling site.
- Support for 4 additional USB NICs including the highly requested RTL8156 which is a 2.5GbE USB NIC and can be found on Amazon for as low as $25 USD. For more details, please refer to Requirements tab on the Fling site.
- Support for persisting VMkernel to USB NIC MAC Address mappings which was an issue when using multiple USB NICs. Upon reboot, ESXi may randomize the mappings which can cause issues. For more details on this feature, please refer to the Instructions tab on the Fling site.
- Simplified method for persisting USB NIC bindings. For more details, please refer to the Instructions tab on the Fling site.
Hi William, I installed this update and see something strange in the link speed section. I am using the QNAP 5Gb usb adapter and it lists the the 5Gb link speed as Half Duplex while the rest are all Full Duplex. Is this and issue with the adapter or the driver? Thanks
Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/x3ShXKw.png
Can you provide the output of esxcfg-nics -l within the ESXi Shell?
Output of esxcfg-nics -l : https://i.imgur.com/AQQ2k82.png
This says 5000Mbps but that is actually incorrect. My 10Gb switch has the port forced to 2.5Gbps because it kept crashing at 5Gb. It also does not matter what speed I set it to it will always report being connected at 5000Mbps
Screen shot of 10Gb switch port status: https://i.imgur.com/A9m6Bdy.png
Thanks William. So far I have only had one crash with v1.6 which is amazing and that was when the adapter was set to 5Gbps. I did one speedtest to a Linux VM and lost connection to the entire host. I had to physically unplug the ethernet cable and plug it back in to reinitialize the connection. I was then unable to change the link speed in ESXi 6.7, no matter what I set it to it always set the link speed to 5Gb so I had to force 2.5Gbs on the switch port it was connected to... https://i.imgur.com/A9m6Bdy.png
ESXi however still states the connection speed is 5Gbps ...
esxcfg-nics -l output https://i.imgur.com/AQQ2k82.png
ESXi also reports that 5Gb is only half duplex for some reason, maybe thats why it crashes... https://i.imgur.com/x3ShXKw.png
Other that all that, when set to 2.5Gb, the speeds are good for download but for upload I am only seeing 1Gb or less... https://i.imgur.com/B1oCULL.png
Hi thanks for these they have been a great help. however getting the following error
[root@localhost:~] esxcli software component apply -d /tmp/ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-39035884-component-16770668.zip
[DependencyError]
Component VMware-vmkusb-nic-fling_2.1-6vmw.700.1.0.39035884 has unmet dependency vmkapi_2_6_0_0 that is not provided by any component in depot.
Component VMware-vmkusb-nic-fling_2.1-6vmw.700.1.0.39035884 has unmet dependency vmkapi_incompat_2_6_0_0 that is not provided by any component in depot.
R
when trying to update from 1.4
What version of ESXi (including build) are you using?
Using build 7.0.0 (Build 15843807)
seems there a couple of other reports.here https://flings.vmware.com/usb-network-native-driver-for-esxi#comments. anything else you need me to supply to help just let me know.
Was this host upgraded from 6.7? The reason I ask is that v1.4 only supported ESXi 6.5 or 6.7
Can you completely remove the previous installation and see if you can install from scratch?
I deployed fresh "15843807" and I was able to install w/o issues, so its possible via some upgrade path, there were issues ...
[root@localhost:~] vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 7.0.0 build-15843807
VMware ESXi 7.0 GA
[root@localhost:~] esxcli software component apply -d /ESXi700-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-39035884-component-16770668.zip
Installation Result
Components Installed: VMware-vmkusb-nic-fling_2.1-6vmw.700.1.0.39035884
Components Removed:
Components Skipped:
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
I was running 6.7, I can't remember if I upgraded to 7 or ended up doing a fresh install, but have just done a fresh install on my two Nuc8i5BEH and then run the install again.and it has worked. so I would guess that I probably did to an upgrade. thanks for the help.
Hi William,
Thanks a lot for sharing and great work with the native USB drivers. Unfortunately I seem to experience PSOD on 8 ESXi hosts (based on NUC 6i5SYH and 7i7DNHE all latest fw) with clean ESXi-7.0u1c install. I have already put notes in the bug list #26 and for some reason the page is not loading the notes 🙂
I hope to find a fix soon or I have to revert the entire homelab to 6.7 🙁
Thanks for yours (and Songtao 🙂 ) assistance!
Michele
macmini8.1:
Platform Information
UUID: 0xe8 0x1c 0xc5 0x6d 0x90 0xe 0x5d 0xc 0xb0 0x9c 0x4 0x70 0x67 0x32 0xd 0x76
Product Name: Macmini8,1
Vendor Name: Apple Inc.
vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 build-13006603
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 Update 2
esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/nvme-driver_component.zip
[DependencyError]
VIB VMW_bootbank_nvme-community_1.0.1.0-2vmw.700.1.0.15843807 requires vmkapi_2_6_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the ImageProfile.
Please refer to the log file for more details
If installed with -force option,
esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/nvme-driver_component.zip -f
Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: VMW_bootbank_nvme-community_1.0.1.0-2vmw.700.1.0.15843807
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
now:
esxcli software vib list | grep nvme-commu
nvme-community 1.0.1.0-2vmw.700.1.0.15843807 VMW VMwareCertified 2021-08-26
but driver does not work - no adapters (except USB) displayed in datastore
additional info:
vmkwarning.log:
2021-08-26T14:19:43.931Z cpu1:2097590)WARNING: Elf: 2277: Load of failed : missing required namespace
2021-08-26T14:19:43.931Z cpu1:2097590)WARNING: Elf: 3144: Kernel based module load of nvme_community failed: Invalid or missing namespace
2021-08-26T14:19:48.030Z cpu1:2097556)WARNING: ScsiPath: 8915: Adapter Invalid does not exist
2021-08-26T14:19:48.030Z cpu0:2097558)WARNING: PCI: 1209: 0000:00:14.0 is nameless
2021-08-26T14:19:49.337Z cpu2:2097632)WARNING: Elf: 2277: Load of failed : missing required namespace
2021-08-26T14:19:49.337Z cpu2:2097632)WARNING: Elf: 3144: Kernel based module load of nvme_community failed: Invalid or missing namespace
vmkdevicemgr.log:
2021-08-26T14:19:50Z vmkdevmgr[2097587]: Found driver nvme_community for device bus=pci addr=p0000:02:00.0 id=106b2005106b1800018002.
2021-08-26T14:19:50Z vmkdevmgr[2097587]: Error loading driver nvme_community: Unable to load module /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/nvme_community: Invalid or missing namespace
Hi William!
please could you kindly provide us with correct download link for usb native nic drivers? on flings site none of the links are working.
regards,
Yuri
I've already reported the issue to VMTN Community folks, but looks like there's some issues with the downloads ...