Teadmistebaas

(Is your server not living up to its potential? Order a server from us with promo code PACKETS for 15% off your first invoice)

There seems to be a compatibility issue between Dell OMSA 6.5 and Broadcom driver for Linux (bnx2).
The problem appears as an issue with the bnx2 network driver when you try to unload/reset it while running Dell OMSA 6.5. This configuration prevents interfaces from loading after network re-configuration.

The issue affects both regular and Xen kernels: on a regular kernel the interface will fail if "/etc/init.d/network restart" command is issued after boot, and Xen networking fails during the boot process as Xen renames interface during the startup.

As the driver fails to reset/unload, the following messages are logged to system console/log: 
bnx2: fw sync timeout, reset code = 9040006
bnx2: fw sync timeout, reset code = 1030009

Some related error codes have been reported in various online forums: 
(community.dell.com, serverfault.com, linuxquestions.org).

Steps to resolve the issue:

1. Remove Dell OMSA 6.5:

srvadmin-uninstall.sh
rm -rf /opt/dell/srvadmin/
rm -rf /etc/yum.repos.d/dell-omsa-repository.repo

2. Reboot your system.
This step is required to unload the hung driver and to reset the hardware.

3. Install Dell OMSA 6.4:

wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/OMSA_6.4/bootstrap.cgi | bash
yum -y install srvadmin-base srvadmin-storageservices srvadmin-rac5
/opt/dell/srvadmin/sbin/srvadmin-services.sh enable
/opt/dell/srvadmin/sbin/srvadmin-services.sh start

4. Confirm the issue has been resolved:
- This step is optional
- Reboot your system.
- ping 4.2.2.2
- issue "/etc/init.d/network restart" to reset all interfaces
- wait 30 seconds for the switch port to enable forwarding after a port reset
- ping 4.2.2.2

We strongly recommend using DRAC console during the procedure to avoid unexpected disconnection while un-installing Dell OMSA components.

We have confirmed the fix suggested above on Dell 1950-II system with following configuration:
CentOS 5.6
2.6.18-238.12.1el5xen x86_64 kernel
2.6.18-238 x86_64 kernel
bnx2 2.0.8-rh driver
Dell OMSA 6.4
Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 (rev 12) network adapter