HBA Adapters Not Detected After Upgrade to ESXi 8.0 Due to Incompatibility with Emulex SN30L22004 Fibre Channel Adapters

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms: 

• After upgrading an ESXi host to version 8.0 U3, HBA adapters are no longer visible, resulting in missing datastores. 

• Despite installing the latest lpfc driver, the host fails to detect or utilize the Emulex HBAs. The same hardware works without issues on other hosts running ESXi 7.0 U3.

Observed Behavior & Validation

• On the upgraded host:
  
  [root@ESX32:~] lspci | grep -i emul
0000:58:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation LPe15000/LPe16000 Series 8Gb/16Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
0000:58:00.1 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation LPe15000/LPe16000 Series 8Gb/16Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
  
  
• Other hosts in the cluster (on ESXi 7.0 U3) detect and use the same HBAs without issue:
  
  [root@ESX2:~] esxcli storage core adapter list
HBA Name  Driver    Link State  UID                                   Description
--------  --------  ----------  ------------------------------------  ----------------------------------------------
vmhba3    lpfc      link-up     fc.################:################  Emulex LPe16000 PCIe FC Adapter
vmhba4    lpfc      link-up     fc.################:################  Emulex LPe16000 PCIe FC Adapter
  
  

Environment

• VMware ESXi 7.x
  
  
• VMware ESXi 8.x

Cause

The root cause is a hardware compatibility issue.

• The Emulex SN30L22004 Mezz 16Gb 2-Port Fibre Channel Adapter is not supported on ESXi 8.0, as confirmed through the VMware Compatibility Guide.

• On the upgraded host, the ESXi kernel does not load a suitable driver for this unsupported adapter, despite the PCI device being visible via lspci.
  
  [root@ESX1:~] lspci | grep -i emul
0000:58:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation LPe15000/LPe16000 Series 8Gb/16Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
0000:58:00.1 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation LPe15000/LPe16000 Series 8Gb/16Gb Fibre Channel Adapter

Supporting Evidence (from working 7.0 U3 host):

[root@ESX2:~] esxcli storage core adapter list
HBA Name  Driver    Link State  UID                                   Capabilities         Description
--------  --------  ----------  ------------------------------------  -------------------  -----------
vmhba3    lpfc      link-up     fc.################:################  Second Level Lun ID  (0000:58:00.0) Emulex Corporation Emulex LightPulse LPe16000 PCIe Fibre Channel Adapter
vmhba4    lpfc      link-up     fc.################:################  Second Level Lun ID  (0000:58:00.1) Emulex Corporation Emulex LightPulse LPe16000 PCIe Fibre Channel Adapter

[root@ESX2:~] vmkchdev -l |grep vmhba3
0000:58:00.0 10df:e200 10df:e288 vmkernel vmhba3

[root@ESX2:~] esxcli storage san fc list
   Adapter: vmhba3
   Port ID: 000001
   Node Name: ##:##:##:##:##:##:##:##
   Port Name: ##:##:##:##:##:##:##:##
   Speed: 16 Gbps
   Port Type: NPort
   Port State: ONLINE
   Model Description: Emulex SN30L22004 Mezz 16Gb 2-Port Fibre Channel Adapter
   Hardware Version: 0000000d
   OptionROM Version: 12.4.250.25
   Firmware Version: 12.4.250.25
   Driver Name: lpfc
   DriverVersion: 12.8.542.25

   Adapter: vmhba4
   Port ID: 000001
   Node Name: ##:##:##:##:##:##:##:##
   Port Name: ##:##:##:##:##:##:##:##
   Speed: 16 Gbps
   Port Type: NPort
   Port State: ONLINE
   Model Description: Emulex SN30L22004 Mezz 16Gb 2-Port Fibre Channel Adapter
   Hardware Version: 0000000d
   OptionROM Version: 12.4.250.25
   Firmware Version: 12.4.250.25
   Driver Name: lpfc
   DriverVersion: 12.8.542.25
[root@INKOL01ESX2:~] 

Note: The same HBA hardware works as expected under ESXi 7.0 U3 but fails in 8.0 due to a lack of driver support.

Resolution

Short-Term Fix:

• Reinstall the affected ESXi host with ESXi 7.0 U3, using the same build number as other cluster members to restore HBA functionality and datastore visibility.

Long-Term Recommendation:

• • Before upgrading to ESXi 8.0 or later, replace the Emulex SN30L22004 HBA cards with a supported model.

  • Use the Broadcom Compatibility Guide to verify hardware support for your ESXi version.

Note : 

• As per VMware's official compatibility matrix, the Emulex SN30L22004 is supported only up to ESXi 7.0 U3.
  
  As per the Emulex SN30L22004 Mezz 16Gb 2-Port Fibre Channel Adapter compatibility list, the card is only supported with 7.0.3.  

• No certified driver exists for this adapter in ESXi 8.0, causing it to be undetected even though it appears in the PCI device list.

• Attempting to use this hardware in an unsupported ESXi version may lead to unpredictable behavior and is not recommended.