Fan health sensors report false alarms on HPE Gen10 Servers with ESXi 6.7

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on steps to stop the sensors from generating Fan Health false alarms.

Symptoms:

• vCenter vSphere Client shows Fan Health as “Critical” after the updating host to ESXi 6.7 - Build 16075168 (ESXi670-202004002)
• Server Hardware is HPE Gen 10
• On validating HPE Integrated Lights-Out (ILO), the alarm is identified to be false positive

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi670-202006001 Build 16316930, available at VMware Downloads.

Workaround:

Impact of workaround:

Using the workaround, you will not be able to see the Hardware Health status for the Node-Sensor ID in the vCenter Server vSphere Client. Alternatively, use the HPE Integrated Lights-Out (ILO) to check the Hardware Health Status.

To work around this issue if you do not want to upgrade:

• From ESXi host Command Line Interface
• From vCenter Server vSphere Client (UI)

From the ESXi host Command Line Interface     

1. Connect to the affected ESXi host as root that is reporting the Fan Health alarms through SSH.
2. Determine the Node-Sensor ID for the Fan device, using this command:
   
   esxcli hardware ipmi sdr list
   
   
   In this example, the Node-Sensor ID is 0.3 which corresponds to the sensor of Fan Device 1 Fan 1. (Note: Sensor ID here is 3).
3. Using this Node-Sensor ID, use this advanced option command from the affected ESXi host to ignore the health alarms from the selected fan sensor:
   
   esxcfg-advcfg -s 3 /UserVars/HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors
    
4. Run this advanced option command to see what sensors you have using this false flag:
   
   esxcfg-advcfg -g /UserVars/HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors
   
   For example:
   
   esxcfg-advcfg -g /UserVars/HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors
   Value of HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors is 3

From the vCenter Server vSphere Client (UI)      

1. Log in to the vCenter Server using vSphere Client.

2. Select ESXi Host > Configure > Advanced System Settings > UserVars.HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors.
   
   
    
3. Enter the Node-Sensor ID from the resulting response from this command:
   
   esxcli hardware ipmi sdr list
   
   In this case, the Node-Sensor ID is 3.
   
   Note: The result should update automatically in 90 seconds. Alternatively, Click on Refresh (if required) in the vCenter Server vSphere Client through ESXi host > Monitor > Hardware Health > Alerts and Warnings > Refresh.
    
4. Click on OK.

To disable this workaround, reset these values:

From ESXi host Command Line Interface

1. Log in as root to the ESXi host through SSH.
2. Run this command:
   
   esxcfg-advcfg -d /UserVars/HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors

From the vCenter Server vSphere Client (UI)

1. Log in to the vCenter Server using vSphere Client.
2. Select ESXi Host > Configure > Advanced System Settings > UserVars.HardwareHealthIgnoredSensors. 
3. Remove the Node-Sensor ID.