1. Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6
  2. New Features and Changes
  3. Driver Updates

Driver Updates

The Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 supports a large number of hardware and devices. In close cooperation with hardware and storage vendors, Oracle has updated several device drivers from the versions in mainline Linux 5.4.

A complete list of the driver modules included in UEK R6 along with version information is provided in the appendix at Driver Modules in Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 (x86_64).

Notable Driver Features

The following new features are noted in the drivers shipped with UEK R6:

  • Broadcom BCM573xx network driver

    The bnxt_en driver version was updated to 1.10.1, with additional patches back-ported from the upstream 5.5 kernel release and vendor contributed patches that are specific to expanding and updating functionality for Broadcom Thor Ethernet controllers.

    An upstream change to this driver that was incorporated into a UEK R6 errata update in kernel version 5.4.17-2011.6.2 results in a device name change for the second port of Broadcom network interfaces that use this driver. For example, a device that was previously identified as eno3d1 is now identified as eno3. This fix was applied to improve device naming and also to address assumptions about port functionality on a device, such as in situations where the network device may belong to different functions. Consequently, this change can result in issues with network scripts when upgrading from a system that uses RHCK or UEK R5 to UEK R6. You may need to ensure that that network scripts are renamed and updated accordingly if you upgrade from a previous kernel version to a current version of UEK R6 or later.

  • Broadcom Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver

    The lpfc driver was updated to 12.6.0.3. This update includes a large number of vendor contributed patches to address changes to the driver since the upstream 5.4 kernel was made available and important bug fix for the adapter firmware . Changes for this driver also resulted in updates to other kernel dependencies, such as code for NVMe over Fibre Channel.

  • QLogic BCM5706/5708/5709/5716 driver

    The bnx2 driver is updated; and, although the version number remains at 2.2.6, the driver includes vendor contributed patches and firmware updates.

  • QLogic Fibre Channel HBA driver

    The qla2xxx driver is updated to version 10.01.00.22.81.1-k. This update back-ports many patches that have since gone into the upstream kernel and includes particular vendor contributed patches to improve performance and provide fixes for some bugs in the original driver.

  • Microsemi Smart Family Controller driver

    The smartpqi driver is updated to version 1.2.10-025 and includes upstream patches that have been applied to the driver since the 5.4 kernel release under vendor guidance. These updates include several bug fixes and performance enhancements.

  • LSI MPT Fusion SAS 3.0 Device driver

    The mpt3sas driver is updated to version 33.100.00.00 and includes vendor contributed patches.