Basic high level question re updating drivers in IaaS VM

mij2020 366 Reputation points
2020-06-08T16:18:21.17+00:00

Microsoft support asked me to update my NIC driver to resolve an issue we have been having.
I'm running a Windows IaaS VM in Azure.
I was under the impression that manually updating drivers via device manager would not be necessary due to virtualisation layer.
Am I mistaken? Are driver updates still required when running IaaS VM's?

Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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  1. Leon Laude 85,666 Reputation points
    2020-06-08T16:21:31.76+00:00

    Hi,

    I don't see why the virtual machine drivers would need to be updated, it is the underlying hardware that requires updating drivers & firmware.
    Unless you are running GPU driven VMs, then those will require driver updates for the GPUs.

    Best regards,
    Leon

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  1. mij2020 366 Reputation points
    2020-06-08T16:26:03.85+00:00

    Yes - this is also what I thought.
    To elaborate slightly - this is the nic for accelerated networking. The Mellanox ConnectX-3 Virtual Function Ethernet Adapter.
    I have been asked to update the driver for this. I should not attempt?

  2. Malleswara Reddy, G 1,631 Reputation points
    2020-06-08T16:34:40.267+00:00

    Hi,

    As Leon mentioned, you can only attempt to Nvidia GPU drivers to leverage GPU capabilities

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/n-series-driver-setup

    Along with that, you will be able to update accelerated networking
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/create-vm-accelerated-networking-powershell

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