OVN (Formerly Xsigo) ESXi Driver Notes

Asset ID:	1-79-1518302.1
Update Date:	2017-11-07
Keywords:

Solution Type Predictive Self-Healing Sure

Solution 1518302.1 : OVN (Formerly Xsigo) ESXi Driver Notes

Applies to:

Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-4 - Version All Versions and later
Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-15 - Version All Versions and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Purpose

To explain the differences between ESXi updates (bug patch fix rollups - minor update/release), individual bug patch releases and major ESXi Releases and how VMware patches and updates relate to OVN (formerly Xsigo) ESXi host drivers.

Scope

Knowledge of VMware ESXi bug patches, updates and major releases.

Details

As a rule of thumb, when UPDATING systems, say ESXi 4.1 U1 to U3 a new OVN (Xsigo) driver is not needed, these are known as minor updates, a VMware Update is a bug patch rollup bundle (Update) only with no new features - hence the VMware kernel does not change. As a general rule, individual VMware bug patch releases also do not break OVN ESXi host drivers on any version. As new VMware ESXi bug patch releases are released every day, it is impossible to keep up with testing every patch release and there are no guarantees that a rare corner case may exist that could cause failure. In those rare instances, this would qualify as a bug, and the Oracle Support Engineer would reproduce the issue and file a bug. However, OVN (Formerly Xsigo) Drivers were rigorously tested over many years and it has not been found that any individual patch or Update (multiple bug fix patch rollup bundle) has ever broken existing installed OVN (Xsigo) drivers or required a new driver to be created for individual patch releaes or bug fix rollups/Updates.

Moving from ESXi 4.1 to 5.0 is a MAJOR upgrade and requires new host drivers specific to the major ESX/ESXi Release. VMware ESX/ ESXi Major releases generally have patch updates PLUS new features introduced.

So specific drivers are required for (Major GA Releases):

ESX/ESXi 4.0
ESX/ESXi 4.1
ESXi 5.0
ESXi 5.1

ESXi 5.5

New drivers are NOT required for (minor updates or individual patches) ::

ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update1, 2, 3, and 4
ESX/ESXi 4.1 U1, 2, and 3. etc...
ESXi 5.0 Update 1 etc...

ESXi 5.5.1 (Update 1 etc... ), or any individual patch release.

You cannot use ESX/ESXi 4.0 Host drivers on ESX/ESXi 4.1 or vice versa.
You cannot use ESXi 5.0 Host drivers on ESXi 5.1 or ESXi 5.5 or vice versa.

v5.3.1 OVN ESXi host drivers are for ESXi 5.0 and 5.1.0. The v5.5.2 and 5.5.4 OVN Host drivers are for ESXi 5.5 only. The OTN driver download page shows the version the drivers are for when they are downloaded from the OTN site (it is part of the driver name and notes the VMware ESXi host OS version.) Note: You cannot use v5.3.1 OVN ESXi 5.0/5.1 on ESXi Hosts 5.5.0+ or vice versa.

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