vSAN health - Network(RDMA NIC: RoCE v2) driver/firmware is vSAN certified

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

This article introduces 'Network(RDMA NIC: RoCE v2) driver/firmware is vSAN certified' check and provides details on why it might report the error and how to fix the error state.

Environment

vSAN 8.0U3

Resolution

Q: What does the 'Network(RDMA NIC: RoCE v2) driver/firmware is vSAN certified' check do? 

This health check checks whether the RDMA NIC's driver and firmware combination is certified by the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG).

Note: This check is only applicable when RDMA is enabled on the vSAN cluster.

Q: What does it mean when it is in a warning state?

It means that the RDMA NIC's driver and firmware combination is not certified by the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG).

Q: How does one troubleshoot and fix the warning state?

Upgrade the RDMA NIC with certified driver and firmware:

1. Update the latest vSAN HCL DB from the "vSAN HCL DB up-to-date" health to get the latest certified driver and firmware info for the RDMA NIC.
2. Go to the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) portal and search the VCG to get the certified driver and firmware info for the RDMA NIC, and update RDMA NIC's driver or firmware accordingly.
   Note: It's possible that the vendors could have already updated certified drivers and firmware, and have made them downloadable from their website. If VMware has not certified the drivers and firmware for vSAN (either because the certification has not happened or finished yet, or the device actually fails the certification), then it's not recommended by VMware to upgrade to drivers and firmware not on the vSAN HCL.