How to build device drivers for ESXi 5.x

Since I published my ESXi-Customizer and ESXi-Customizer-PS tools to slipstream driver packages into an ESXi installation ISO I was asked dozens of times if I can provide a driver for the unsupported device xyz or whether I can give instructions on building such a driver. So far my answer was always No, because - although I'm quite familiar with using Linux - I do not have any of the Linux kernel hacking skills that I thought would be required to do this.

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HP ProLiant Firmware and Driver updates

Today HP released a new Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP): Version 2012.06.0(B). The SPP is a DVD image that includes the latest firmwares and drivers for all ProLiant servers (and associated components like Blade enclosures, iLO boards, NICs, CNAs and Smart Array controllers). Also included is the HP Smart Update Manager (updated to version 5.1.0) that you can use either on a Windows OS or by booting a ProLiant server off the DVD into Linux.

At the same time HP also published updates for their customized ESXi (4.1 U2 and 5.0 U1) installation CDs that include updated Offline bundles and updated drivers (both are also separately available).

Last but not least a new Virtual Connect firmware (version 3.60) hits the street today.

You can find download links to all the mentioned components on my HP & VMware Links page.

How to subscribe to HP Software Alerts

I often complain about the hp.com web pages and how challenging it is to find the right information there. And this is a pity, because there really is quite a lot of important and useful information available here, e.g. regarding BIOS, firmware and driver updates for the HP hardware that you are using and advisories about known problems and how to avoid or fix them.
So it is good to know that you can actually subscribe to this information and have e-mails sent to you whenever there are important updates or alerts for your hardware.

Click on the Subscriber's choice for business log in page to register for and configure this service. If you already have an account with HP you can directly sign in with it, otherwise click on the "Register" button and create a new account (It's free and just requires a valid email address).
Once you are logged in you can select the products that you want to receive alerts for by clicking on the "Customize" link for Driver and Support alerts:

Subscribe to HP alerts

I recommend that you carefully think about what HP hardware components you use and want to add here. If e.g. you are using c7000 blade enclosures with BL620c G7 servers then add every single component that has its own firmware and/or drivers: the BL620s, but also their iLO boards and CNAs, the enclosure, Onboard Administrator and Virtual Connect modules (see picture). Add this list for any type of HP server model you have.

In the next steps you choose how often and in which format (HTML or text e-mail or RSS feed) you want to receive the alerts and what operating systems you are interested in.

Submit you registration and you will soon receive e-mail alerts like this one:

HP Alerts example e-mail

Highly recommended to pro-actively inform yourself about possible hardware problems (and there is a plenty of them)!