VDDK could not work with hotadd transport mode for EFI enabled SLES/RHEL9.0 proxy VMs

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
If the SLES/RHEL9.0 proxy VMs was booted in UEFI mode, VDDK could not work with hotadd transport mode. Below logs can be found if VDDK logging level is highest.
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[testng] 2022-04-07_23:50:29.199 [main] INFO VDDK - 2022-04-07T23:50:29.199-07:00 info -[04158] [Originator@6876 sub=Libs] UUID: Unable to open /dev/mem: Operation not permitted
[testng] 2022-04-07_23:50:29.199 [main] INFO VDDK - 2022-04-07T23:50:29.199-07:00 info -[04158] [Originator@6876 sub=Libs] UUID: Unable to open /dev/mem: Operation not permitted
...
[testng] 2022-04-07_23:50:29.220 [main] INFO VDDK - 2022-04-07T23:50:29.220-07:00 trivia -[04158] [Originator@6876 sub=transport] Transport mode hotadd failed pre-flight check. Ignoring.
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Cause

VDDK could not open "/dev/mem" when EFI is enabled on the SLES/RHEL9.0 proxy VM.

Resolution

Use BIOS firmware to boot SLES/RHEL9.0 proxy VMs.
Disable secure boot when using EFI firmware to boot RHEL9.0 proxy VMs.

Workaround:

Additional Information

The issue is fixed in VDDK8.0 and VDDK7.0.3 Patch2.