Identify currently running NIC Card Driver Version on ESXi Host with below esxcli command line.

Login to ESXi Host through SSH.

Run below command to obtain the Network driver type:

Command:-

# esxcfg-nics -l

or

# esxcli network nic list

Output:-

Name    PCI           Driver      Link Speed     Duplex MAC Address       MTU    Description

vmnic0  0000:04:00.00 be2net      Up   10000Mbps Full   80:c1:6e:7b:e6:b8 1500   Emulex Corporation HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLB Adapter

vmnic1  0000:04:00.01 be2net      Up   10000Mbps Full   80:c1:6e:7b:e6:bc 1500   Emulex Corporation HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLB Adapter

Run the ethtool -i command to check the NIC Driver version:-

Command:-

# ethtool -i vmnic0

Output:-

driver: be2net

version: 4.1.334.48

firmware-version: 4.1.450.7

bus-info: 0000:04:00.0

Run below command to get list of all NICs present in ESXi Host.

Command:-

# for a in $(esxcfg-nics -l|awk '{print $1}'|grep [0-9]) ;do ethtool -i $a;done

Output:-

driver: be2net

version: 4.1.334.48

firmware-version: 4.1.450.7

bus-info: 0000:04:00.0

driver: be2net

version: 4.1.334.48

firmware-version: 4.1.450.7

bus-info: 0000:04:00.1

To identify suitable driver, we must obtain the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID) using the vmkchdev command:-

Command:-

# vmkchdev -l |grep vmnic0

Output:-

000:004:00.0 19a2:0710 103c:337b vmkernel vmnic0

Values are:

                VID = 19a2

                DID = 0710

                SVID = 103c

                SDID = 337b

Run this command to obtain vendor information for all NICs in the system using:

Command:-

# for a in $(esxcfg-nics -l |awk '{print $1}' |grep [0-9]) ;do vmkchdev -l |grep $a ;done

Output:-

000:004:00.0 19a2:0710 103c:337b vmkernel vmnic0

000:004:00.1 19a2:0710 103c:337b vmkernel vmnic1

# Open VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide to find out compatible driver Drivers and Firmware.