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This chapter contains the following sections:
Downloading Cisco UCS VIC Drivers
This procedure describes how to download the UCS Drivers ISO bundle, which contains most of the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card drivers. In some cases, a driver might be in a different bundle, which is noted in the installation procedure for that driver.
Step 1 | In a web browser, navigate to http://www.cisco.com. |
Step 2 | Under Support, click All Downloads. |
Step 3 | In the product selector, click Products, then click Servers - Unified Computing. |
Step 4 | If prompted,
enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.
You must be signed in to download Unified Computing System (UCS) drivers. |
Step 5 | Choose your
server.
Cisco UCS drivers are available for Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software, Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software, and Cisco UCS M-Series Modular Server Software. |
Step 6 | Click Unified Computing System (UCS) Drivers. |
Step 7 | Click the Release Notes link to view the latest version of the Release Notes. |
Step 8 | For each driver
ISO that you want to download, do the following:
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Read the Release Notes before installing the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card drivers.
Installing Cisco UCS VIC Drivers
Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card drivers for Windows be can installed in the following ways:
Administrative privileges are required to install and update Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card drivers.
Note | To avoid a system crash, you must first upgrade the infrastructure firmware, which includes the UCS Manager, the Fabric Interconnects, and the chassis I/O Modules. For information on the proper sequence to installing the drivers, see Installing Windows Drivers During OS Install (Windows 2012 and 2012 R2). |
If you are installing Windows on a LUN, you must install Cisco VIC drivers for Windows during the OS installation. If you do not provide the drivers during the OS installation, the system is not able to detect the LUN.
Except in Cisco UCS M-Series, if installing Windows on the local hard disk, it is not required to install the drivers during the OS installation. You can install the drivers after completing the OS installation.
In Cisco UCS M-Series, to install Windows on the local hard disk, you must install the VIC drivers during OS installation.
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Caution | Failure to adhere to the proper upgrade sequence can cause the server to crash. |
If you are installing Windows on a SAN LUN, you must install Cisco VIC drivers for Windows during the OS installation. If you do not provide the drivers during OS installation, the system cannot detect the SAN LUN.
If you are installing Windows on the local hard disk, it is not required to install the drivers during the OS installation. You can install the drivers after completing the OS installation.
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Ensure that you adhere to the following best practice for installing the Windows drivers during the OS installation of Windows 2008 and 2008 R2. You must upgrade the infrastructure in the following order before upgrading the drivers.
Upgrade the infrastructure firmware which includes the UCS Manager, the Fabric Interconnects, and the chassis I/O Modules.
Upgrade the server and adapter firmware.
Upgrade the OS VIC drivers.
Note | Do not reboot until all three hotfixes are installed. |
If these hotfixes are not installed, the device drivers are not correctly registered as critical devices, and cause a crash when they are being upgraded.
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Note | Follow the same steps for Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2. |
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Use the Cisco VIO installer to install and upgrade the VIC drivers across different versions and editions of Windows 2012 and 2012 R2. Refer to the readme file for additional information on the Cisco VIO installer.
Note | You must upgrade the infrastructure in the following order before upgrading the drivers. |
Upgrade the infrastructure firmware which includes the UCS Manager, the Fabric Interconnects, and the chassis I/O Modules.
Upgrade the server and adapter firmware.
Upgrade the OS VIC drivers.
Caution | Failure to adhere to the proper upgrade sequence can cause the server to crash. |
Caution | The driver installation file modifies certain registry entries, such as the disk timeout value of the system disk driver. Removing the driver does not restore these values. |
Use the Cisco VIO installer to install and upgrade the VIC drivers across different versions and editions of Windows 2008 and 2008 R2. Refer to the readme file for additional information on the Cisco VIO installer.
Note | You must upgrade the infrastructure in the following order before upgrading the drivers. |
Caution | Failure to adhere to the proper upgrade sequence can cause the server to crash. |
You can use the Cisco VIO installer to install and upgrade the VIC drivers across different versions and editions of Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2012 R2. The Cisco VIO installer is available as part of the Cisco UCS Drivers ISO bundle.
Installing the NIC Teaming Driver
The Cisco NIC Teaming Driver for Windows is supported by Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bit. The driver can be installed through either the Windows Control Panel or the Windows command prompt.
Note |
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After installing the driver, you can configure NIC teaming using the enictool.exe command line utility provided with the driver files. The driver supports the following teaming modes:
The driver supports the following transmit load balancing methods:
The driver supports the following hashing options for load balancing:
The Cisco NIC Teaming Driver is contained in the UCS-related Windows Utilities ISO.
Step 1 | In a web browser, navigate to http://www.cisco.com. |
Step 2 | Under Support, click All Downloads. |
Step 3 | In the product selector, click Products, then click Unified Computing and Servers. |
Step 4 | If prompted,
enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.
You must be signed in to download UCS drivers. |
Step 5 | Depending on your platform, choose Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Software, Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount UCS-Managed Server Software, or Cisco UCS M-Series Modular Server Software. |
Step 6 | Click Unified Computing System (UCS) Utilities and select the Windows platform. |
Step 7 | Click the link
for the release that you want to download.
The latest release version is selected by default. |
Step 8 | Click the Release Notes link to view the latest version of the Release Notes. |
Step 9 | Choose your
download method and follow the prompts to complete your driver download.
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Read the Release Notes for Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card Drivers before installing the driver.
In the command prompt, run the enictool.exe utility to create and delete teams.
Use the enictool.exe utility to create and delete teams.
Ensure that the Microsoft iSCSI service is running.
Ensure that the iSCSI vNIC is defined in the service profile.
Windows detects the newly installed device and displays the Found New Hardware with SAS Controller message. The Found New Hardware wizard begins installing a device driver for the newly installed device.
The sNIC driver is supported only on Windows 2012 or later versions.
Step 1 | Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next. |
Step 2 | Select Search for the best driver in these locations. |
Step 3 | Select Include this location in the search:. |
Step 4 | Enter the path to the driver directory and click Next. |
Step 5 | Click Next and complete the Found New Hardware Wizard. |
Step 6 | Click Yes to restart the computer if Windows displays the following message—System Settings Change. Windows has finished installing a new devices. The software that supports your device requires that you restart your computer. You must restart your computer before the new settings will take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now? |
Step 7 | If Windows Server 2012 installs the driver for the newly added VIC-SNIC automatically during startup without prompting you for a selection, refer to Upgrading an Existing sNIC Driver. |
You can install an updated version of the sNIC driver.
Step 1 | Right-click My Computer. |
Step 2 | Click Manage. |
Step 3 | Select Device Manager. |
Step 4 | Select Storage controllers and expand it. |
Step 5 | Right-click Cisco VIC-SNIC Adapter from the devices list. |
Step 6 | Select Upgrade to start the Hardware Update Wizard. |
Step 7 | Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next. |
Step 8 | Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install. and click Next. |
Step 9 | Click Have Disk.... |
Step 10 | Enter the path to the driver directory and click OK |
Step 11 | When the Hardware Update Wizard or Select a Device Driver dialog box opens, click Next. |
Step 12 | Click Finish on the Hardware Update Wizard. |