ESXi 7.0 U1: HPP pathing policy change fails with configStore validation error.

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When a change to the pathing policy for HPP claimed devices is initiated (either via the vSphere client, ESXCLI, or other management tools), the operation fails.
Messages similar to the following are observed in the /var/log/hostd.log file on the affected ESXi host:

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] error hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] [ConfigStore:115240376064:] [1083]Validation Error: '/hpp/preferred_path' Object does not follow UnionTag condition, scheme: <======
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] error hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=Libs opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] [ConfigStore:115240376064:] [1087] Failed to validate User config
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] error hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] Failed to set hpp multipath lun policy: N14EsxConfigStore19ValidationExceptionE(Failed to validate User config)
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=AdapterServer opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] AdapterServer caught exception: N3Vim5Fault15HostConfigFault9ExceptionE(Fault cause: vim.fault.HostConfigFault --> )
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] Task Completed : haTask-ha-host-vim.host.StorageSystem.updateHppMultipathLunPolicy-401562 Status error
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] verbose hostd[2100209] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=kjo31z83-253837-auto-5fv2-h5:70068353-a0-2e-4726 user=vpxuser:domain\username] Arg policy: --> (vim.host.MultipathInfo.HppLogicalUnitPolicy) {
--> policy = "FIXED", <=====
--> path = "vmhba64:C0:T3:L0",
--> }

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

Cause

This issue is caused by a defect in ESXi 7.0 Update 1 (U1) within the host's configuration store. Specifically, when an attempt is made to set the HPP (Host Profile Plug-in) multipath policy for a LUN, the configuration store's validation logic incorrectly processes the update. The system tries to set the preferredPath without first correctly establishing or validating the necessary scheme value for the multipathing policy. This leads to a Validation Exception against the user configuration, causing the policy change to fail.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in ESXi 7.0 Update 2 (U2) and later versions. Upgrading your ESXi host to 7.0 Update 2 or a newer release will address this validation defect.

Note:
When planning an update to ESXi 7.0 Update 2, be aware of a known issue that can affect the patching process, resulting in boot failures. Refer to the following Knowledge Base article for more information and potential workarounds if you encounter this specific error during your upgrade

Refer- Failed to load crypto64.efi Fatal error: 15 (Not found) after patching ESXi host to 7.0 Update 2

Workaround
If an immediate upgrade to ESXi 7.0 Update 2 or newer is not possible, a workaround may involve reverting your ESXi host to a previous version where this configstore validation issue is not present.

Refer- Reverting to a previous version of ESXi 6.x, 7.x or 8.x