Known Issues

3044598

Description: On some servers, chain-loading boot-loaders that work with interrupt fail to boon on ConnectX-7 adapter cards and causes NMI.

Workaround: Disable the legacy interrupts using mlxconfig.

For further information refer to MFT User Manual (https://docs.mellanox.com/category/mft).

Keywords: Chain-loading, boot

Discovered in Version: 3.6.204

2244450

Description: Chain-loading boot-loaders that work with interrupts fail to boot on ConnectX-6 Lx OCP adapter cards.

Workaround: Disable the legacy interrupts using mlxconfig.

For further information refer to MFT User Manual (https://docs.mellanox.com/category/mft).

Keywords: Chain-loading, boot

Discovered in Version: 3.6.204

-

Description: PXE boot will not function if the adapter card is connected to a NVIDIA Quantum based switch over an HDR fiber optical cable or a copper splitter because EDR and SDR speeds will not function.

Workaround: Set KEEP_LINK_UP_ON_BOOT configuration to enable via mlxconfig.

For further information please contact Support.

Keywords: IB, Link Speed , Link Down, SDR , optical cable

Discovered in Version: 3.5.901

1422604

Description: The FlexBoot TFTP enters an infinite loop when it tries to resolve the server name by a DNS request, and the DNS server dose not response to the request.

Workaround: Terminate the TFTP process by pressing Ctrl + C

Keywords: Boot, TFTP, DNS

Discovered in Version: 3.5.504

1295727

Description: In Secure Host mode, the Ctrl + B option will be “read only”, changes will not be applied and may cause unknown behavior.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Secure Host mode, Ctrl + B option

Discovered in Version: 3.5.403

1066544

Description: Chain-loading boot-loaders that works with interrupts fails to boot on multi- host adapter cards.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Chain-loading, boot

Discovered in Version: 3.5.403

1755286

Description: Port speed may change to SDR spontaneously, without a clear reason for devices that operates in Multi-Host mode and for devices that operates in Single-Host mode with "keep_ib_link_up" configuration at "1".

Workaround:

1. Power-cycle the server.

2. Disable the physical link.

3. Enable the physical link to load the default link speed.

4. Keep the "keep_ib_link_up" bit at 0 in NVconfig to make sure the port is raised with the correct speed.

Keywords: SDR, Multi-Host, Single-Host, port speed

Discovered in Version: 3.5.305

1149467

Description: Chain-loading "ipxe.pxe" and "undionly.kpxe" over InfiniBand is currently not supported when using DHCP client identification based on InfiniBand 32-bit Prefix+GUID (as with FlexBoot).

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: FlexBoot, chainload, InfiniBand, undionly.kpxe, ipxe.pxe

Discovered in Version: 3.5.305

1755286

Description: Port speed may change to SDR spontaneously, without a clear reason.

Workaround: Keep the "keep_ib_link_up" bit at 0 in NVconfig to make sure the port is raised with the correct speed.

Keywords: SDR, port speed

Discovered in Version: 3.5.305

841198

Description: FlexBoot fails to boot when the following occurs:

• Boot priority is set to iSCSI

• The iSCSI TCP/IP parameters via DHCP is disabled

• iSCSI boot fails or iSCSI boot to target configuration is set to disable

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE boot, iSCSI

843377/849223

Description: The physical MAC assigned via the boot menu is displayed as zeroes instead of the set MAC when ConnectX-4 VPI adapter card is configured as InfiniBand.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Physical MAC, Boot menu

656001

Description: Booting from WDS and Windows DHCP server when only Option 66 is enabled (without Option 67), is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: DHCP

776057

Description: Citrix PVS boot is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Citrix PVS boot

689460

Description: FlexBoot uses system UUID to generate the client DUID-UUID as per RFC 6355, the data conveyed with DHCPv6 Code 1 (Option ID).

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: DUID-UUID

928217

Description: Installing ESXi 6.5/6.0 on iSCSI target is currently not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: ESXi 6.5/6.0, iSCSI target

-

Description: To use the DHCP server to identify ipxe requests when using undi- only.kpxe or ipxe.pxe when booting over IB requires special configuration. (see the Workaround below).

Workaround: Add to the DHCP host declaration the MAC identification alongside the option 61 DUID.

For example:

host ib-client1 {

option dhcp-client-identifier = ff:00:00:00:00:00:02:00:00:02:c9:00:<Port-GUID> ;

hardware ethernet <Port-MAC> ; fixed-address <IPoIB Address> ; filename "ipxe.pxe" ;

if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" { filename “pxelinux.0” ; }

}

Keywords: undionly.kpxe or ipxe.pxe

-

Description: Due to interoperability issue between the ESXi installer and the lpxelinux bootloader, when trying to install ESXi 6.5 on iSCSI target using lpxelinux.0 as a bootloader, a PSOD occurs.

Workaround: Use FlexBoot (or iPXE) to load mboot.c32 directly instead of pxelinux.0 using the script below:

#!ipxe

set base /nfs/Esxi-6.5_INBOX

chain ${base}/mboot.c32 -c ${base}/boot.cfg BOOTIF=01-

${mac:hexhyp}

where the "set base ..." specifies a suitable absolute path.

Note: iPXE does not need an absolute path, however, mboot.c32 requires it.

Keywords: mboot.c32, PSOD,

976878

Description: When using bootloader grub2 to boot WDS, if the WDS boot fails, an RSOD might appear.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Bootloader grub2, WDS, RSOD

-

Description: Several BIOS vendors have limited boot-vector space and may not display FlexBoot in their boot menu.

Workaround: Disable the embedded NIC boot agent in BIOS

Keywords: BIOS

-

Description: In several BIOS, the server might hang during FlexBoot booting due to wrong configuration of the PMM.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: BIOS

-

Description: Only EBX, ESI, DS, ES registers can be saved in Boot Entry.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: BIOS

-

Description: If a client returned control to the BIOS after a successful connection to an iSCSI target (but did not boot from it), then, unexpected behavior may occur.

Workaround: Follow the instructions described in the FlexBoot UM for the proper iSCSI boot/install

Keywords: BIOS

673114/821899

Description: FlexBoot banner might not be shown in some BIOSes.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: BIOS

-

Description: In some cases, PXE boot will not work if the client was given only the file- name without next-server (siaddr).

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

-

Description: PXE boot after iSCSI boot with static configuration is currently not sup- ported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

-

Description: Boot over VLAN with IB port is currently not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

-

Description: Some faulty boot loaders do not close the underlying UNDI device which may result in unexpected behavior and possible system crash after the OS starts to load.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

-

Description: Chain-loading gPXE stack is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

647143

Description: Executing a partial boot loop while only downloading the NBP and select- ing localboot is unsupported and may cause undefined behavior.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

670421

Description: Using filename for PXE boot with rootpath for hooking an iSCSI target (to install) is not supported when the PXE boot loader uses UNDI API, since all traffic must get to the boot loader.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PXE Boot

-

Description: iSCSI over IB is not tested.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: iSCSI

-

Description: iSCSI over DCB is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: iSCSI

-

Description: FlexBoot supports only a single active iSCSI connection. Thus, when iSCSI-boot via Port 1 succeeds to connect but fails to boot, it will fail to connect via Port 2.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: iSCSI

-

Description: Boot retries is currently not functional when booting from iSCSI.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: iSCSI

655800

Description: iSCSI over IPv6 is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: iSCSI

-

Description: Boot menu is displayed as READ ONLY if the HCA card does not support flash configuration.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: User Interface

-

Description: FlexBoot Boot Menu will not be visible in serial output.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: User Interface

-

Description: Large Receive Offload (LRO) and iSCSI may not interoperate due to a bug in current Linux kernel distributions.

Workaround: Disable LRO in the IPoIB module when using iSCSI.

See the Mellanox FlexBoot user's manual for details under the Diskless Machines chapter (InfiniBand Ports).

Keywords: Networking

-

Description: Setting the number of Virtual Functions higher than the machine's memory capability may cause memory issues and system instability.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtualization

-

Description: SLAM, FTP, HTTPS and SRP are currently not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Protocols

-

Description: Occasionally, using the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) in the switches may cause packet drops and boot failure in the system.

Workaround: Enable the "edgemode" if disabled on the switch, or use either portfast or edgemode functionality on the switch ports connected to the NICs.

Keywords: Protocols

655800

Description: IPv6 can only run if a RADVD service is running in the network.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Protocols

-

Description: IPv6 over IB is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Protocols

655800

Description: Enabling IPv6 first and then IPv4 is currently not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Protocols