Devices deprecated and unsupported in ESXi 7.0

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about deprecated devices in VMware ESXi 7.0 and implications for support.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vSphere 7.0.x

Resolution

Deprecated devices in VMware ESXi 7.0 fall into three categories:

1. Devices that were only supported in ESXi 6.7 or earlier by a VMKlinux inbox driver. These devices are no longer supported because all support for VMKlinux drivers and their devices have been completely removed in ESXi 7.0. 
2. Device Supported by Native Drivers:
   1. Devices that were supported by a Native inbox driver in ESXi 6.7 or earlier but that support has been completely removed in the ESXi 7.0 inbox driver.
   2. Devices that were supported by a Native inbox in ESXi 6.7 or earlier and will recognized by ESXi 7.0 but are no longer supported in ESXi 7.0 and will be completely removed from the driver in a subsequent release.

If you are upgrading to ESXi 7.0 using an ISO image or VMware Update Manager on a host with a device described in category 1 or 2(a) above , you may see a warning indicating that you are attempting to upgrade your host with a deprecated device. If you are upgrading using the ESXCLI upgrade method, you will not see a warning.
 

If you proceed with the upgrade on a host with any device described in category 1 or 2(a),  the following non-recoverable consequences can occur:

• You may lose access to storage / data-stores
• You may lose network access
• You may lose previous configuration on the host

If your host contains any of the devices described in category 1 or 2(a, those devices should be replaced with supported hardware prior to upgrading or performing a fresh installation of 7.0.

If your host contains any of the devices described in category 2(b), you will also get a warning but you may proceed with caution and are encouraged to replace the unsupported devices with supported hardware as soon as possible.

For full list of deprecated devices see the attached Zip file which contains : 7.0 native and not removed in driver deprecated devices.xlsx, 7.0 native and removed in driver deprecated devices.xlsx, and 7.0 VMKlinux deprecated devices.xlsx.