Dear all,

Here my contribution to open/3rd-party ESX4i drivers: oem.tgz package with this content:

* NIC Realtek 8169 (yes, the PCI version!)
* NIC Marvell Yukon
* STORAGE Enhanced AHCI
* STORAGE Marvell PATA (88SE61xx, ported & compiled by myself)

Personally I prefer to not patch any file inside OEM.TGZ and only include in it your custom files. For install it the best and easy method (from my point of view) is: boot the ESX4i install from PXE with your custom oem.tgz (you only need to add " --- oem.tgz" at the end of "append" command); afterwards the install and before the first boot use a Linux LiveCD or PXE to copy your custom oem.tgz to the partition 5 of your install disk. Finally just reboot and enjoy your custom ESX4i server!

I like to encourage other people to port more drivers to ESX4i from Linux kernel source code!

Thanks, just to say you can use my script too.

But then you need to rename the mymod-network.new2.tgz to oem.tgz
befor you run the script.

What I do is to copy the oem fil into the disk image file. I don't edit any other files.


Rgd Daniel

Thanks Vara,

In my PXE server "mymod-network.new2.tgz" is "oem.tgz"

Thanks for posting this. A few questions.

Have you had a chance to load up the traffic for the 8169 driver?
What changes have you made with the AHCI driver?

Thanks,

Hi Danisoto

Thanks for your contribution. Do you know if it by any chance should work with the Marvell 88SE63xx/64xx storage controllers too?

Hi Danisoto

Do you know if your storage drivers would work with the Marvell 88SE63xx/64xx storage drivers too?

\Tomcat

When ppl going to run my script I recommend name the file something like this.

"supported-system.oem.tgz"

The iso file be created with the same name. It's easier to see what drivers you have added.

//Daniel

Hi tomcat!

My current Marvell_pata driver supports only 88SE6101/45, very common in several new motherboards without legacy IDE support in the main chipset (like ASUS). Nevertheless, I feel that it's possible to recompile the driver with support for 88SE6121 (the most modern driver in the Linux tree has also listed PCIs 11ab:6121 & 6123 in the same driver). The source I use is vanilla kernel 2.6.21 (that only lists 6101 and 6145).

For 88SE63xx/64xx cards (SAS adapters) the source is completly different (mvsas driver). I hope others can do the porting.

Anyway, if someone needs another not supported IDE driver for ESX4i (with support in the linux kernel 2.6.11 in the directory linux/driver/ata) I can try to port it!

And I repeat: I like to encourage others to port more drivers to ESX4i. Specially NIC drivers, like Gigabits from: Atheros (ATL1e AR81), VIA (6122/30), SiS (190/191), Jmicron (250/260), etc.

Hi Dave,

I don't make any change or modifications in the current drivers (except for my personal porting of marvell_pata).

FYI, the r8169 driver is working without troubles in a ESX4i server (last build) with 3 different cards in the same PCI 66MHz BUS.

Regards!

It's this that you like? marvell_pata.oem.tgz; r8169.oem.tgz; ahci.oem.tgz; sky2.oem.tgz
Ok, so next time I'll create one oem.tgz package with each driver.

Now one suggestion (perhaps, someone can try to do this):

* Compile all non-official drivers for ESX4i in individual packages and save it in a web server.
* Publish one script (PHP, for exemple) in the web server that can create a custem OEM.TGZ with all drivers that someone needs (based on a selection in a form).

You agree?