So I ran into a problem recently trying to upgrade several Cisco UCS Server running ESXI 4.1 to 5.0. We don't have a vCenter environment and I am processing the update using the ESXi installer. The UCS Server has about 4 Virtual Machines that are stored on the local Raid array. From boot up I see that the Raid controller is a LSI mega Radi SAS 9261-8i
After reading through the upgrade documentation I created the standard ISO and attempted the install.
I then got the following error messages that stated something along the lines of the fact that third party VIB are not supported.
oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx
oem-vmware-esx-drivers-net-vxge
After doing a good amount of searching I found out these drivers were included in ESXi 4.1 however are not included in 5.0
I found the following information relating to the drivers and my error message in regards to the third party VIB
◦Async drivers, for example oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx.
The vendor will release drivers asynchronously for ESXi 5.0, and the drivers will be made available in the VMware patch depot. If you require those drivers, you must download them, use Image Builder CLI to build a custom ESXi image that contains them, and remediate against the custom image. Without the ESXi 5.0 drivers, pertinent hardware devices might stop functioning.
◦Deprecated drivers, for example oem-vmware-esx-drivers-net-vxge.
The driver is discontinued in ESXi 5.0 because the pertinent hardware is discontinued. In the Update Manager Remediate wizard, on the ESXi 5.x Upgrade page, click Remove installed third-party software that is incompatible with the upgrade, and continue with the remediation. You should be aware of the functional implications of third-party software removal, because pertinent hardware devices might stop functioning.
At this point I read some more and found out I would need to create a custom ISO image to be used during the install to fixed the oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx. error message.
I have read some blogs that people are upgraded ignoring these and everything was fine however I do not think this will be the case for me because my VMs are on locally attached storage using the LSI Mega Radi SAS 9261-8i. I am of course assuming that the third party VIB message about oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx
So in order to create the custom iso I followed the steps I found in the following blog.
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/04/using-the-vsphere-esxi-image-builder-cli.html
This Blog showed me that I needed to download the offline software depots, import them, create the image profile, and add the VIBs.
Now I need to find the software
I found the following from LSI
I was able to find the offline depot after googling around for it.
VMware-ESXi-5.0.0-623861-depot.zip
However still a little unsure if it was indeed the LSI mega Raid SAS 9261-8i hardware drives that caused the error message or if it is something else. Possibly the drivers that match the error message scsi-3w-9xxx.
I created on custom ISO based on the support from link below that contained the LSI_2.27.08.036vm50-637081.zip and LSI_3.26.00.003vm50-646893.zip however the oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx error message was still received during installation so I backed out. My thoughts was that the one error message would go away once the image contained software depot that included the vib.
I wanted to see if anyone had this same hardware and had a fix or can point me in the right direction....Is the megaraid the hardware causing this or is it something else also or how do I find the right driver?
Also if anyone can answer what will be the outcome if i upgrade from 4.1 to 5.0 ignoring the deprecated oem-vmware-esx-drivers-net-vxge... more specifically what is the driver related and what would the expected outcome be in the driver is indeed currently in use... slash how can I found out if my current system needs it.
Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!