Dependency errors when adding Network drivers to ESXi image with PowerCLI

[Benajim117]

I'm having trouble adding the required network drivers to my ESXi 7.0.0 image with PowerCLI. Every time I get dependency errors stating the package requires vmkapi 2.2.0.0 and vmware,driverAPI-9.2.2.0

 

Would I be able to add an offline depot or something else so it can grab these 2 packages. Or is it an issue with what packages are included in 7.0 as with all the 6.x images I've done this with there haven't been any issues.

 

I'm not too familiar with PowerCLI so any help would be appreciated. Ive always used this same set of commands and it worked flawlessly every time with ESXi 6.x images

 

In case its relevant, I'm using PowerCLI Version 12.0.0 along with an ESXi-7.0.0-15843807 Offline Depot and the net55-r8168 offline bundle for the network driver.

[Jarsky]

Quite a specific question, you should perhaps submit it over at VMware communities: https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vsphere/content?filterID=contentstatus[published]~objecttype~objecttype[thread]

 

I guess make sure you're trying to update the right image profile, the standard one and not the one with no-tools, perhaps that might be missing packages. 

 

You probably need to download and use the offline bundle: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI700&productId=974&rPId=44114 and then force it with an -f flag. e.g

esxcli software profile update -d <offline bundle> -p <Profile> -f

7.0 being pretty new I haven't had a chance to play with it, so yeah you might be best trying communities. 

[BloodKnight7]

have you tried using -f option to bypass dependency check? 

[Benajim117]

11 hours ago, Jarsky said:

Quite a specific question, you should perhaps submit it over at VMware communities: https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vsphere/content?filterID=contentstatus[published]~objecttype~objecttype[thread]

 

I guess make sure you're trying to update the right image profile, the standard one and not the one with no-tools, perhaps that might be missing packages. 

 

You probably need to download and use the offline bundle: https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI700&productId=974&rPId=44114 and then force it with an -f flag. e.g

esxcli software profile update -d <offline bundle> -p <Profile> -f

7.0 being pretty new I haven't had a chance to play with it, so yeah you might be best trying communities. 

Thanks for the reply. 

 

I am using the offline depot and have the standard packages selected. 

 

-f did allow me to add the drivers to the profile when i tried it but once the image is exported to iso and booted on the target system I still have the no network device error so the driver must actually rely on those packages and not just want them to be there as "one of those things"

 

I did try the VMware communities but they either weren't helpful in the slightest or just didn't reply. 

 

I think I'm going to leave it for now and wait until mainstream support for vSphere 7 starts in the next few months. This was only going to be for a test machine of sorts so I could try out 7.

[BloodKnight7]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:11 AM, Benajim117 said:

Thanks for the reply. 

 

I am using the offline depot and have the standard packages selected. 

 

-f did allow me to add the drivers to the profile when i tried it but once the image is exported to iso and booted on the target system I still have the no network device error so the driver must actually rely on those packages and not just want them to be there as "one of those things"

 

I did try the VMware communities but they either weren't helpful in the slightest or just didn't reply. 

 

I think I'm going to leave it for now and wait until mainstream support for vSphere 7 starts in the next few months. This was only going to be for a test machine of sorts so I could try out 7.

why dont you try to install the driver manually from the cli in ESXi? Just copy the file manually to the /tmp folder and then run esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/<ESXi driver package filename>.zip

[Benajim117]

15 hours ago, BloodKnight7 said:

why dont you try to install the driver manually from the cli in ESXi? Just copy the file manually to the /tmp folder and then run esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/<ESXi driver package filename>.zip

I don't have an installation of ESXi to do this from. I need an image with the correct driver loaded in so that it will detect the NIC and allow me to install. 

This is what I have had to do with all versions of 6 previously to get ESXi installed.

 

Also, I have found the issue. The VMKLinux Driver stack has bee depreciated in vSphere 7.0 so the drivers for these Realtek cards flat out wont work in an capacity in the new release. Anyone with a Realtek NIC is stuck on 6.7 for the time being. If We are lucky we may get official support but I think the more likely thing is to wait for a community driven project or fling to spring up and hopefully get the Realtek cards working in 7.0

[shashiRaj]

On 4/12/2020 at 1:22 AM, Benajim117 said:

I don't have an installation of ESXi to do this from. I need an image with the correct driver loaded in so that it will detect the NIC and allow me to install. 

This is what I have had to do with all versions of 6 previously to get ESXi installed.

 

Also, I have found the issue. The VMKLinux Driver stack has bee depreciated in vSphere 7.0 so the drivers for these Realtek cards flat out wont work in an capacity in the new release. Anyone with a Realtek NIC is stuck on 6.7 for the time being. If We are lucky we may get official support but I think the more likely thing is to wait for a community driven project or fling to spring up and hopefully get the Realtek cards working in 7.0

 

I am also getting same issue.

Tried to create ISO, getting dependency error while adding drivers to esxi image.

Error is as

 

requires vmkapi_2_2_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied

 

downloaded ESXi-7.0.0-15843807 Offline Depot  and driver is igb-5.2.7-1331820xxxx and ixgbe-3.21.6-xxxx

 

need to take other driver of intel. How to get compatible driver, how to decide compatible driver

 

please suggest me

[DogKnight]

Haven't had a chance to play around with vsphere 7.0 yet. 

 

May be worth checking a blog like Virtually Ghetto by William Lam. He is a VMware Solution Architect and shares a lot of info regarding home labs, etc.

 

I haven't had a chance to read this article yet, but it may prove useful. He does also reply to questions.

https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2020/03/homelab-considerations-for-vsphere-7.html#more-167448

 

The error seems to be the drivers have been created with an old API that needs to be updated to support esxi 7.0. So chances are it is in the hands of the company that made the driver.

 

From VMware support article:

"This issue is caused when drivers are built with older vmkapi version dependencies which are deprecated from ESXi 7.0 GA onwards.

Additionally, for qedf and qedi, there is a requirement for all Marvell FastLinQ protocol drivers to use the same version of the underlying hardware abstraction layer code. To ensure matching versions are installed, a dependency version is exported by qedentv NIC driver and is checked by other protocol drivers. This results in the qedentv version related failure messages."

 

See here for more info: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78389

 

Hope this helps. 

[Benajim117]

3 hours ago, shashiRaj said:

 

I am also getting same issue.

Tried to create ISO, getting dependency error while adding drivers to esxi image.

Error is as

 

requires vmkapi_2_2_0_0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within the

ImageProfile.

 

 

please suggest me how to fix it.

The error cant be fixed unfortunately. The problem is that the VMKLinux Driver Stack has been deprecated in VSphere 7.0 meaning any driver which is built from a linux driver such as those for the Realtek NICs will not work at all with VSphere 7. The only way to get these NICs going with 7 would be if an official driver was released I believe

[Benajim117]

3 hours ago, DogKnight said:

Haven't had a chance to play around with vsphere 7.0 yet. 

 

May be worth checking a blog like Virtually Ghetto by William Lam. He is a VMware Solution Architect and shares a lot of info regarding home labs, etc.

 

I haven't had a chance to read this article yet, but it may prove useful. He does also reply to questions.

https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2020/03/homelab-considerations-for-vsphere-7.html#more-167448

 

The error seems to be the drivers have been created with an old API that needs to be updated to support esxi 7.0. So chances are it is in the hands of the company that made the driver.

 

From VMware support article:

"This issue is caused when drivers are built with older vmkapi version dependencies which are deprecated from ESXi 7.0 GA onwards.

Additionally, for qedf and qedi, there is a requirement for all Marvell FastLinQ protocol drivers to use the same version of the underlying hardware abstraction layer code. To ensure matching versions are installed, a dependency version is exported by qedentv NIC driver and is checked by other protocol drivers. This results in the qedentv version related failure messages."

 

See here for more info: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78389

 

Hope this helps. 

Thanks for the reply. I did come across this article a few weeks ago and have become familiar with the issue as well as giving up hope of upgrading to 7. Thanks for the info though!

[DogKnight]

Not a problem.

If I here anything about support for the VMKLinux Driver stack i'll try remember to share it up here. 

Alternatively, if the NIC you are using is used by any OEM vendors, you may get lucky in a new version being released.

 

I guess the only other option is to buy a new NIC. As long as one NIC is supported, it doesn't matter if others in the system aren't.

 

 

[shashiRaj]

Finally I have to take new drivers

I think so.

[shashiRaj]

Did anyone got new driver from Intel?

or anything from intel driver for this dependency error

[shashiRaj]

On 5/11/2020 at 9:37 PM, Benajim117 said:

The error cant be fixed unfortunately. The problem is that the VMKLinux Driver Stack has been deprecated in VSphere 7.0 meaning any driver which is built from a linux driver such as those for the Realtek NICs will not work at all with VSphere 7. The only way to get these NICs going with 7 would be if an official driver was released I believe

downloaded ESXi-7.0.0-15843807 Offline Depot  and driver is igb-5.2.7-1331820xxxx and ixgbe-3.21.6-xxxx

 

need to take other driver of intel. How to get compatible driver, how to decide compatible driver. so many drivers are released but which one is compatible, how to check

 

please suggest me

[Benajim117]

On 5/21/2020 at 4:09 PM, shashiRaj said:

downloaded ESXi-7.0.0-15843807 Offline Depot  and driver is igb-5.2.7-1331820xxxx and ixgbe-3.21.6-xxxx

 

need to take other driver of intel. How to get compatible driver, how to decide compatible driver. so many drivers are released but which one is compatible, how to check

 

please suggest me

You would need to check if the driver is a VMKLinux driver or a native ESXi Driver. If the driver is VMK then it will not work with ESXi 7 and you will get dependency errors when trying to add it to the offline ESXi Depot. Depending on what intel NIC you are using there may not be an official intel driver that works with ESXi (Especially if its a consumer chip like the Realtek NIC I mentioned previously) The likelihood is that you would need a community driver and at the moment I think they rely on the VMK driver stack which has been deprecated in ESXi 7. Hence there being no way to use NICs that rely on those drivers with 7 at this time. We either have to wait for official support (which is unlikely) or try a different NIC.

 

A Second NIC is not an option for myself as the machine I am using is a micro PC and therefor dosnt have any PCIe Expansion slots. There is no room for any kind of expansion card. Depending on what machine you are trying to install ESXi on, you may be able to add a PCIe NIC that is compatible out of the box with ESXi. I would suggest you check if your machine can handle an expansion card and if so look into investing in a card that is natively supported. Check the ESXi Hardware compatibility list before you buy anything. 

[shashiRaj]

Quote

Trying to add driver and vib for esxi 7.0 on Power cli  but getting error as 

VIB RBD_bootbank_riverbed-esx-boot-options_1.2-04

requires esx-version << 7.0, but the requirement cannot be satisfied within

the ImageProfile

in VIB file there is constraint check for less than 7.0

how to decide its constraint version.

 

please suggest me.

[shashiRaj]

Hi 

 

I am trying to create ISO image for esxi 7.0 on POWER CLI. I have modified VIB XML and compiled.

sending for signing need to send whole VIB or part of VIB. please suggest me.

I have modified descriptor.xml and used make for compilation.

is there any need of creating VIB offline bundle?

if yes then please sugget me how to create this offline bundle for VMware esxi 7.0

[Benajim117]

23 hours ago, shashiRaj said:

Hi 

 

I am trying to create ISO image for esxi 7.0 on POWER CLI. I have modified VIB XML and compiled.

sending for signing need to send whole VIB or part of VIB. please suggest me.

I have modified descriptor.xml and used make for compilation.

is there any need of creating VIB offline bundle?

if yes then please sugget me how to create this offline bundle for VMware esxi 7.0

Im sorry but this isn't what this thread was about. You will probably get more help and more people willing to help if you start a new thread. Please stop spamming this one as iim not sure anyone here is able to help otherwise they would have done so already