For an issue I had with vVols, the support team told me I had to update my FC drivers. However, when I wanted to install the new driver, nothing happened.
I started with listing all the installed vibs. Connect to your ESX and execute
=> esxcli software vib list
Because you get a huge list, filter it further with adding “| grep lpfc”. Lpfc is what you can see in the first printscreen where I tried to install my driver. You can see that the installed version is a higher version and that’s the reason why nothing happens during the installation of your driver.
Next we’re going to uninstall the driver with following command
=> esxcli software vib remove -n lpfc:12.6.278.10-8vmw.701.0.0.16850804
The -n switch is build up with the “name” and the “version” of the “vib list” command that you can see in the previous printscreen.
Reboot your esx, as this is required. We’re continuing to use esxcli also for the reboot of the server.
=> esxcli system shutdown reboot -d 10 -r “Driver uninstall”
After your server is back, you can install your driver. You will need to copy the .zip file of your driver with a tool to your esx server.
For the installation I’m using the “component” namespace, because that was mentioned in the readme of the driver.
=> esxcli software component apply -d /tmp/Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_12.6.228.4-OEM.700.1.0.15525992_16014644.zip
Another reboot is required to activate the new driver
You can check the version after reboot.
=> esxcli software component list | grep lpfc or
=> esxcli software vib list | grep lpfc
Hope this article clears it out for you.
Kristof's virtual life 