Host profile remediation fails with a device alias error

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Attempts to remediate a host profile fail with these device alias exceptions:

• The vmnic device at PCI bus address m00008504 is not present on your host. Your host model may be different from the reference host.

• The vmhba device at PCI bus address s00000004:00.40 is not present on your host. You must shut down and then insert a card into PCI slot 4. The type of card should exactly match the one in the reference host.
   
• Your host is missing 2 vmnic PCI devices required by the profile. Your host model may be different from the reference host.

The exception occurs because the host hardware is incompatible with the host profile.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Resolution

Use device alias profile only with homogenous hosts (that is, hosts that have the same model number and are configured identically) to configure homogenous hardware. If you want to apply the host profiles to non-homogenous hosts, disable the device alias profile.
 

To disable the Device Alias Configuration for ESXI 5.5/6.0:

 

1. Log in to the vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.
2. Under the Home view, click Host Profiles under Management.
   
   Note: It is recommended to clone the Host Profile and make changes to the clone.
    
3. In the Host Profiles view, right-click the host profile and select the second option, Enable/Disable Profile Configuration.
4. Deselect the Device Alias Configuration profile.
5. Click OK.
6. In Profile compliance, click Check compliance

To disable the Device Alias Configuration for ESXI 6.5/6.7:
 

1. Log in to the vCenter Server using HTML client 
2. Under the Shortcuts view, click Host Profiles
3. Click on the desired Host Profile
4. Click on ACTIONS --> Edit host profile --> General System Settings --> Device Alias Configuration --> Deselect the Device Alias Configuration profile
5. Click save 
6. Now check Compliance