ESXI 8.0u2 intell x550t2 NIC Drivers？

[cy shi]

I have an ESXi 8.0u2 server with an Intel X550-T2 network card installed. However, the ESXi network card driver is too outdated, causing it to be unable to recognize the 2.5G and 5G speeds of the network card. According to the official documentation, the corresponding network card driver can be found in the "VMware vSphere" section under "My Downloads" on https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/downloads. However, this "VMware vSphere" section is no longer available on the website. What should I do? Can you directly provide me with the download link for my network card driver?

[Andrea Consalvi]

If ESXi 8.0u2 doesn't recognize the 2.5G and 5G speeds on your Intel X550-T2 card, you might need a more recent driver.

First, check which driver is currently in use with:

esxcli network nic list 

If the card is detected but doesn't support intermediate speeds, try checking which driver is loaded with:

esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvm 

Sometimes, updating the firmware of the network card can resolve the issue. You can download the latest firmware from the Intel Download Center.

Regarding the driver, the VMware vSphere section on Broadcom has been removed, but you might still find the necessary package using Wayback Machine by searching for the old link. Alternatively, you can check directly on VMware Customer Connect:
https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads

[ShawnMcC]

That is surprising because the X550-T2 is fully supported and on the HCL.  That would mean the driver is built into the software.

[stanislav_musil]

based on this docs.. https://gzhls.at/blob/ldb/5/b/9/4/2df3b35821795bb6646e3007454f0a3f1888.pdf 

only supported speeds are 100 MBit/s; 1 Gbit/s; 10 Gbit/s