UCS iSCSI boot fails after updating driver on the iSCSI NIC

[ccone@vascorltd.com]

We are running a cluster of C460 M4 servers with VIC 1385 adapters. We have been running on these servers for about 2 years. We run MS Hyper-V (Windows Server 2016), iSCSI booting from a PureStore.

In response to a TAC recommendation to update our firmware to correct a memory leak issue, I have applied infrastructure and server firmware/software to the 4.0(4g) package. Everything works perfectly until I try to update the NIC drivers for the network devices that support the iSCSI connections. After those are updated, the server no longer boots and fails with a BSOD (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE). For now I have the servers up with only those two network devices using the older drivers (4.0.0.3). All the other network interfaces in Windows have been updated to the newer drivers (4.1.19.2).

What do I need to do to update the drivers for the NICs that support the iSCSI boot volume?

Thanks!

[Kirk J · Accepted solution]

Do you have more than one kind of NIC/VIC card in use?

So it's specifically when you update the overall Windows VIC 1385 enic driver that you see this problem?

According to the UCS HCL tool, it looks like the enic drivers should be:

Firmware Version 4.3(3) (contained in 4.04g bundle)

Driver Version 4.2.0.5 enic 

Adapter BIOS 4.3(3)

Thanks,

Kirk...

[ccone@vascorltd.com]

My firmware versions match that, but my new drivers do not.  I don't know how I got the wrong ones, but I'll update and try again. My guess is that I accidentally opened the wrong driver archive on my machine to extract them. I have a bunch.

I have a snapshot on the boot volume so I can recover from the BSOD without a complete reinstall, but rebooting this server still takes a while.  It takes about 30 minutes to test 6TB of RAM.

I'll update the discussion with results when the process is complete.

Thanks!

Clint

[ccone@vascorltd.com]

Many thanks!

That was absolutely the issue and all is good now.