ESXi Desired State Configuration (DSC) remediation fails with Apply plugin 'REMEDIATE:esx:storage:nmp_claim_rules' failed.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Issue:

Trying to remediate an ESXi host with Desired State Configuration (DSC) fails with Apply plugin 'REMEDIATE:esx:storage:nmp_claim_rules' failed.

The ESXi host shows out of compliance with desired configuration

In the DSC export-draft-config-<timestamp>.json export you see the claim rules

 

Additional remediation attempts add more claim rules

 

Environment

VMware ESXi 8.0.3

VMware vCenter 8.0.3

Nimble Storage

Cause

In the ESXi host's boot log you see the rule failing to activate:

cat boot | grep -i nmp-nimble_psp
cpu75:2098507)Activating Jumpstart plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed.
cpu92:2098525)Applying start on plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed
cpu75:2098507)Jumpstart plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed activated.
cpu75:2098507)Activating Jumpstart plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed-rules.
cpu80:2098514)Applying start on plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed-rules
cpu76:2098507)ALERT: Jumpstart plugin nmp-nimble_psp_directed-rules activation failed.

 

In the ESXi host's vmkernel logs you see not in the SATP "VMW_SATP_ALUA" Supported ID list.

In(182) vmkernel: cpu135:2230349)NMP: nmp_SatpRemoveSupportedID:1807: user rule Uid "(null)" Vendor "Nimble" and Model "(null)" and Claim Options "(null)" Driver "(null)" not in the SATP "VMW_SATP_ALUA" Supported ID list.

 

Looking at "esxcli storage nmp satp rule list" you see Nimble as a system rule

 

Looking at the following articles indicates that the issue is due to the rule being a system rule.

Error deleting SATP rule: No rule matching the given options found, nothing to delete. Specify all options for the rule to delete
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/374164

• System defined rules cannot be removed.
• For user defined rules, ensure we specify all parameters when removing a satp rule.
• cpu54:2111153 opID=37253496)NMP: nmp_SatpRemoveSupportedID:1811: user rule Uid "(null)" Vendor "3PARdata" and Model "VV" and Claim Options "tpgs_on" Driver "(null)" not in the SATP "VMW_SATP_ALUA" Supported ID list.

Unable to apply third party path selection policy
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/383175

• Issue occurs due to claim rules injected by third party. If the third party multipathing policy is having a system generated satp rule on the ESXi then we cannot change it to NMP policy.

Resolution

1) Remove the rule from DSC as it's a system rule

2) Remove the unnecessary nmp claim rules from the ESXi host with configstorecli

configstorecli config current delete -c esx -g storage -k nmp_claim_rules --all