The Emulex lpfc 12.8.317.0 driver is causing issues with LUN visibility.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading to ESXi 6.7 U3, VMFS volumes become invisible.

This issue is known to occur due to the driver Emulex lpfc 12.8.317.0.

This problem may arise if the server is running with a customized ISO from HPE or Dell, which includes the lpfc 12.8.317.0 driver.

Environment

VMware vSphere 6.7.x

Cause

Per EMC engineering, The lpfc driver 12.8.317.0 is set WR_XFR_RDY_DISABLE  regardless of lpfc_first_burst_enable is enabled or disabled.

Such issues have been reported using IBM SVC arrays and EMC PowerMax arrays.

Resolution

LUNs are not visible when using the lpfc driver 12.8.317.0, causing production outage after ESXi host upgrade 

Workaround:
a. Downgrade lpfc driver to 12.6.182.2

b. Contact storage vendors to see if they can configure the target settings to ignore WR_XFR_RDY_DISABLE settings to accept PRL and in PRLI set zero.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
LUNs/Datastores are not visible.