Checking ESXi Host I/O Device Compatibility Before Upgrade Using the Broadcom Compatibility Guide

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to verify the driver and firmware version of Physical Nic (vmnic) and HBA at the ESXi host using the Broadcom Compatibility Guide

If  I/O Devices are incompatible. It may trigger some worse results as follows:

• System crash:
  • ESXi system may get PSOD.
  • Virtual machines may crash frequently, resulting in data loss or corruption.
• Performance degradation: Driver incompatibility, may result in significant performance degradation of the virtual machine, affecting the overall work efficiency.
• Missing features: Certain VMware features may not work properly, preventing the desired virtualization effect. What features are missing depends on the specifics

Note: The consequences of incompatibility are unpredictable.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Resolution

1. Refer to  KB323110  to confirm the target the driver and firmware version of Physical Nic (vmnic) and HBA's Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID), and Sub-Device ID (SDID) and record them.
2. Open Broadcom Compatibility Guide - IO Devices, 
   1. Find VID, DID, SVID, and SSID(Max SSID)options on the floor of the left menu.  Then select these four values you record in step 1.
   2. Find the Product Release Version and select your ESXi version.
   3. You also can select other options to make the scope smaller.
3. click the View Results button on the top of the left menu. The results will be shown in the middle part of the Web page
4. If there are entries, according to the Model name find the object product and click the link. Otherwise, the I/O Devices are incompatible.
5. Select ESXi versions then check whether the current driver and firmware versions are in the compatible list.

Additional Information

The result may show many entries which map the same VID, DID, SVID, and SSID(Max SSID), For this situation, we need to use Model and Brand Name to confirm which Device is the true one