We were looking at the* September 2012 VMware FW and Software Recipe* page and we wanted to install the latest be2iscsi driver. From the page here is the recommended version:

iscsi_hp_recipes

Here is VMware HCL link for the CNA.

After we installed the driver and rebooted the host, we saw the following PSOD:

psod_be2iscsi

here is the backtrace:

0x412242f1a850:[0x41803745573e]be_char_ioctl'@'<None>#<None>+0xc8 stack: 0x412242f1ad21
0x412242f1a960:[0x418037646620]LinuxCharIoctl'@'com.vmware.driverAPI#9.2+0x127 stack: 0x412242f27040
0x412242f1a9e0:[0x418036d51292]VMKAPICharDevDevfsWrapIoctl'@'vmkernel#nover+0x109 stack: 0x412242f1aa
0x412242f1ac10:[0x4180370dc4d8]DevFSIoctl'@'vmkernel#nover+0x9bf stack: 0x412242f1ad8c
0x412242f1ac70:[0x41803709d35d]FSS2_IoctlByFH'@'vmkernel#nover+0x434 stack: 0xbcd42f1ad20
0x412242f1acc0:[0x41803709ceb0]FSS_IoctlByFH'@'vmkernel#nover+0x8f stack: 0xffd6223cc0105500
0x412242f1ace0:[0x41803745573e]UserFile_PassthroughIoctl'@'<None>#<None>+0x41 stack: 0x412242f1ad60
0x412242f1ad60:[0x418037511822]UserVmfs_Ioctl'@'<None>#<None>+0xa9 stack: 0x41003eba39e0
0x412242f1adc0:[0x4180374744b4]LinuxFileDesc_Ioctl'@'<None>#<None>+0x163 stack: 0x412242f1ae00
0x412242f1af10:[0x418036d3e0e9]User_LinuxSyscallHandler@vmkernel#nover+0x1c stack: 0xffd62258

we see a be and that is pointing to the be2net or be2iscsi driver causing the PSOD. We were already updating to the latest version of the be2iscsi driver, so the next thing to try is to update the be2net driver. I rebooted the host and the be2iscsi driver was automatically removed and the host rebooted fine (no PSODs were seen). I checked out the driver version of be2net, and I saw the following:

~ # vmkload_mod -s be2net | head -4
vmkload_mod module information
input file: /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/be2net
License: GPL
Version: Version 4.0.88.0, Build: 515841, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Oct 28 2011

I actually ran into VMware KB 2007397, from that KB:

Emulex OneConnect driver not supported on vSphere 5.0 for HP hardware … … HP has recalled firmware version 4.0.348.0, which was compatible with the vSphere 5.0 async be2net driver version 4.0.355-1. For more information, see the HP Advisory http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03005737.

Resolution To resolve this issue, contact HP for the newer Emulex firmware.

For ESXi 5.0, use these drivers:

be2net: 4.0.355.1: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi50_emulex_be2net_403551/dHRAYnQqQHBiZHAlJQ be2iscsi: 4.0.317.0: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi50_emulex_oce11100_403170/dHRAYnRqdCViZHAlJQ lpfc: 8.2.2.105.36: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dt_esxi50_emulex_lpfc820_82210536/dHRAYnRoZCViZHAlJQ

I decided to update my be2net driver from 4.0.88 to 4.0.355 (link to driver is above). I installed the driver and rebooted, here is how my driver/firmware looked like:

~ # ethtool -i vmnic4
driver: be2net
version: 4.0.355.1
firmware-version: 4.1.450.16
bus-info: 0000.0e:00.0

And I didn’t see another PSOD. I then re-installed be2iscsi version 4.1.334.3 on the same host. I then rebooted one more time and no PSOD occurred. It looks like I needed to update the be2net driver first, before applying the latest be2iscsi driver.