Owners Manual

Checking the System Configuration

If any of the system checks below show that the firmware or drivers are earlier than the required versions,

update the components. See Requirements for Fluid Cache and Downloading Firmware, Drivers, and

Software.

Checking the Cache Device Firmware and Driver

Non-NVMe Cache Devices

• Firmware— The firmware version for the Dell PCIe Express Flash SSDs must be B1490908 or later.

Otherwise, even though they are visible in ESXi and in Enterprise Manager, the cache devices do not

appear in the list of available devices.

NOTE: The installed firmware version cannot be verified in ESXi. If the cache devices do not

appear in the list of available devices and you are not sure that your firmware version is

B1490908 or later, update your firmware. Also, see Troubleshooting VMware Installations. You

may also contact Dell Technical Support.

• Driver— The cache device driver used by Fluid Cache is native to the VSA and does not require

updating.

Checking the Network Adapter Firmware and Driver

To make sure that the correct firmware and drivers are installed on each of the Mellanox network

adapters used by Fluid Cache:

1. Get a list of interfaces on your server by running the command: esxcfg-nics -l

2. In the results, locate and write down the names of the network interfaces.These are in the format

vmnicX (for example, vmnic1).

The following example illustrates potential Fluid Cache interfaces on Mellanox network adapters:

Name PCI Driver Link Speed Duplex MAC

Address MTU Description

vmnic0 0000:01:00.00 bnx2x Up 1000Mbps Full e0:db:

55:11:92:24 1500 Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit

Ethernet

vmnic1 0000:01:00.01 bnx2x Up 10000Mbps Full e0:db:

55:11:92:26 1500 Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit

Ethernet

vmnic1000202 0000:07:00.00 mlx4_en Up 10000Mbps Full

00:02:c9:e5:f7:31 1500 Mellanox Technologies MT27500 Family [ConnectX-3]

vmnic2 0000:07:00.00 mlx4_en Up 10000Mbps Full

00:02:c9:e5:f7:30 1500 Mellanox Technologies MT27500 Family [ConnectX-3]D

3. Make sure the firmware and driver versions on each of these interfaces by running the command:

ethtool -i vmnicX

The firmware and driver must use supported versions as documented in the Release Notes.