Cannot add a new RDM to a virtual machine because the RDM LUN is not visible.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to add a new RDM to a VM by clicking on VM's Edit settings -> Add New Device button and selecting RDM disk from dropdown. The 'Select Target LUN' does not populate any LUN information:
  • 
• The LUN is aptly presented under ESXi -> Configure ->Storage adapters.
• A new datastore can be created as the LUN is visible while navigating through the create datastore wizard.

Environment

• vSphere 7.x
• vSphere 8.x
• NVMe over Fabric Storage

Cause

As per the vSphere 7.x and 8.x Requirement guide for NVMe storage, RDM usage for NVMe over FC is not supported.

Requirements for VMware NVMe Storage (7.0)

Requirements for VMware NVMe Storage (8.0)

Shared Storage Functionality	SCSI over Fabric Storage	NVMe over Fabric Storage
RDM	Supported	Not supported
Core dump	Supported	Supported
SCSI-2 reservations	Supported	Not supported

Resolution

There isn't a workaround. A different type of storage will need to be used for RDM LUNs, such as SCSI over FC, traditional iSCSI on SAN etc.