Hello, We have recently upgraded our ESX servers to 5.1. Since then, my LTM VE 10.2.1.297 has stopped working and my interfaces shows as uninitialized. Looking @ https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/pro...0_2_1.html I saw that 10.2.1. is compatible with ESX 4.0 - 4.1 only! Two questions: Is there an easy way to solve this?Can I upgrade 10.2.1 to 10.2.2\3\4 without messing up my configuration? Thanks in advance!

IIRC, a change to the vmxnet3 driver was required in order to support vSphere 5, so an upgrade is probably the only solution. You should be able to upgrade your existing VE instance just as you would a physical LTM. http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/12000/600/sol12628

Thanks for the quick reply! We're talking about ESX 5.1, where can I see the minimum compatible version?

1. "Is there an easy way to solve this?" I'm guessing that since you can see the interfaces as unitiailized (normal on 10.2.1 VE with VMXNET3, fwiw) that the box does come up. The problem with pre 10.2.3 on ESX5.x and later is more of a deployment issue, not so much that the NICs won't work so well. Anwyays, I think this indicates that the problem is likely in NIC ordering from your hypervisor upgrade. You can line the nics up again. This is written better in the manuals, but check the mac addresses against the BIG-IP view of the interfaces. Its likely that you'll have to reassign them. You can also move them around on the BIG-IP by changing the VLAN(s) that the BIG-IP interfaces are assigned to. 2) "Can I upgrade 10.2.1 to 10.2.2\3\4 without messing up my configuration?" Yes. My very bare-bones summary (manuals, askf5.com, support have more details) Copy the 10.2.1 and 10.2.x iso of your choice to /shared/images and you can perform a liveinstall to another boot location. This will preserve the 10.2.1 configuration and let you experiment with the new technologies available in the later releases with simple time tested BIG-IP controls. The old boot location and disk image can be kept around. Once the old version isn't needed and to save space, be sure to remove the m using the web based configuration utility or tmsh. Note that if the system was deployed using thin provisioning (for lab edition), flatten the filesystem on the hypervisor side when there is a chance for downtime to reclaim the deleted blocks on the hypervisor's storage. For an extra and somewhat redundant layer of protection you can also take a snapshot of your 10.2.1 instance before installing 10.2.x and rolling back if need be, but this generally requires some consideration of snapshotting a live filesystem. Snapshotting the RAM isn't suggested.

The Hypervisor support matrix is here: https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/ve-supportedhypervisormatrix-1-0-0.html. ESXi5.1 has not yet been on the support matrix, as I think it was released after our last 11.2 version. Today version 11.3 was released. but it looks like the documentation is being updated and the support matrix hasn't yet been updated. I believe that 11.3 has been certified with ESXi 5.1 but I am not positive. the documentation should be updated by the end of the day. Just to be sure I checked again and the matrix has been updated and 11.3 shows support for ESXi 5.1 https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/ve-supportedhypervisormatrix-1-1-0.html

Thanks guys! The MAC address for the UNINITIALIZED NICs is 0:0:0:0:0:0 - any ideas?

After ESX upgrade, Interfaces uninitialized (10.2.1.297)

19 Replies

qe_102628
Nimbostratus
Dec 19, 2012
that's a known bug, sadly. You can remove the media and duplex settings from /config/bigip_base.conf

e.g. remove these from the interface statements:

media-fixed 10000T-FD

and then reload the config (bigstart restart, etc.)

there is more detail on these steps covered in the BIG-IP Virtual Edition manuals
JrMaster_47117
Nimbostratus
Dec 19, 2012
Done that... Still MACs shows 0:0:0:0:0:0 Any ideas?

Additioanlly, another interface just came from no where... I had 1.1 and 1.2 and now I have 1.3 as well... O_O

appreciate your help!
Paul_Pindell
Employee
Dec 19, 2012
Does the 1.3 interface have a mac address other than zeros?
JrMaster_47117
Nimbostratus
Dec 19, 2012
Nope. Zero's as well... it also set to 100 (Media Speed)...

Seems to me like it is the MGMT interface...

What do you think?
JrMaster_47117
Nimbostratus
Dec 19, 2012
But then again, when i run ifconfig i see eth0:mgmt and it has a MAC...

Any ideas?
qe_102628
Nimbostratus
Dec 20, 2012
10.2.2-hf2 has the first VMXNET3 code that will function on ESXi 5.x, but 10.2.4 is probably your best bet if you must stay 10.2.x.
JrMaster_47117
Nimbostratus
Dec 20, 2012
Many thanks qe, one last question...

Do I have to upgrade my license for upgrading 10.2.1 to 10.2.x?
qe_102628
Nimbostratus
Dec 20, 2012
In general, no
JrMaster_47117
Nimbostratus
Dec 20, 2012
All,

Many thanks for your AWESOME support.

I've upgraded to 10.2.4.577 and everything started working again.

THANKS!

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After ESX upgrade, Interfaces uninitialized (10.2.1.297)

19 Replies

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