After Upgrading the ESXi host to 7.0.3, unable to see FC vmhba adapter or datastore.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After Upgrading the ESXi host to 7.0.3, unable to see FC vmhba adapter or datastore.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.3

Cause

This issue is observed in ESXi version 7.0.3. Emulex lpfc Driver 14.0.543.0 is not compatible with certain Emulex FC HBA Adapters and would result in the loss of FC LUN access or vmhba adapter missing. Hence you need to downgrade the driver version to 14.0.169.25-5 or 14.0.169.26-5. After downgrading the HBA version you can see the vmhba adapter.

The following HBA models have gone End of Support and are deprecated in the 14.0.x.x drivers (For OCe14000-series VMware 7.0 U3 inbox driver will be 12.0.1500.2)

• • Emulex LPe12000-series 8Gb/s PCIe 2.0 FC HBA
  • Emulex LPe16000-series 16Gb/s PCIe 2.0 FC HBA
  • Emulex OCe14000-series 10GbE FCoE Adapter

Also, firmware version 12.8.542.26 and later that is required for these devices for use with lpfc version 14.0.326.12 and later is not supported for these devices.

Example, see the Compatibility Guide for Emulex LightPulse LPm16002B-D 2-Port 16G Fibre Channel

Resolution

Install critical patches but do not install the non-critical patches as the non-critical patches contain a newer version of the lpfc driver.

• Critical Host Patches
  Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.169.26-5vmw.703.0.50.20036589
• Non-Critical Host Patches
  Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.326.12-1OEM.700.1.0.15843807
  Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.543.0-1OEM.700.1.0.15843807

If you have already installed an incompatible version of the driver, follow this workaround:

1. Copy Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.169.26-5vmw.703.0.50.20036589.vib from zip depot to /tmp directory of the ESXi host using SCP/WinSCP.
2. Install the vib over a SSH session to the host:
   esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.169.26-5vmw.703.0.50.20036589.vib
   or
   localcli software vib install -v /tmp/Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.169.26-5vmw.703.0.50.20036589.vib

Note: The older driver "Broadcom-ELX-lpfc_14.0.169.26-5vmw.703.0.50.20036589.vib" has been bundled in the patch ESXI 7.0 U3f release. Refer ESXI 7.0 U3f release notes. For instructions on how to download ESXi patches we may follow KB142814

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Additional Information

Broadcom Emulex End of Life HBA models not detected with 14.0.x.x and later drivers