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Install D-Link 528T ethernet adapter drivers on VMware ESXi 5/5.1/6

External Link

To solve this issue You need to get D-Link 528T adapter driver and log on to ESXi with ssh.

Download and upload driver

First download D-Link 528T ethernet driver from here , unzip it and upload to your ESXi datastore.

Enable ssh access to ESXi

Then enable SSH access to your ESXi host.

ESXi in Maintenance Mode

Put ESXi host in Maintenance Mode.

Access to ESXi throw ssh

Open some ssh client software for example Putty and type your host credentials login in to ESXi.

Change VMware level suppport

Then change your support level on ESXi

~ # esxcli software acceptance set –level=CommunitySupported

For VMware ESXi version 6.7/7:

~ # esxcli software acceptance set –-level CommunitySupported

Host acceptance level changed to ‘CommunitySupported’.

Install driver

After that You can install driver like as below:

~ # esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/DLink-528T-1.x86_64.vib
Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: DLink_bootbank_DLink-528T_1
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:

or

[root@localhost:~] esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/Samsung_SSD_960_EVO_NVMe/DLink-528T-1.x86_64.vib -f
Installation Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed: DLink_bootbank_DLink-528T_1
   VIBs Removed:
   VIBs Skipped:

Check Network adapter

You can check your Network adapter with this command:

~ # lspci | grep net
00:07:00.0 Network controller: D-Link System Inc DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Reboot

It is required to reboot ESXi host. After reboot new adapter shows on command line output.

~ # lspci | grep Net
00:00:19.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation 82579V Gigabit Network Connection [vmnic0]
00:07:00.0 Network controller: D-Link System Inc DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [vmnic1]

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