NVMe Over TCP adapter option not available in a standalone host via host client

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Host Client does not show option to enable NVMe Over TCP adapter. 

The vmkernel port settings does not show option NVMeTCP service to be tagged in host client. 

ESXi host is a standalone host and is installed with NVMe TCP supported nic card for example: ConnectX-6 or ConnectX-5. 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 U3c

Cause

The NVMe Over TCP adapter option is available only in vSphere Client. This article outlines command line options to enable NVMe Over TCP,  in case vSphere client is not available. 

Resolution

Ensure the prerequisites are met for NVMe Over TCP and required networking configuration is in place. Refer Configuring NVMeOver TCP 

• Run below command to enable NVMe Over TCP on the supported physical NICs

# esxcli nvme fabrics enable --protocol TCP --device vmnicX

• List the nvme adapter and you should see the adapter with transport type TCP and associated device (vmnic)

# esxcli nvme adapter list 

• To tag the physical nic for NVMe Over TCP service 

# esxcli network ip interface tag add --interface-name vmkX --tagname NVMeTCP

• After enabling NVMeTCP configure the discovery address 

# esxcli nvme fabrics discover --adapter vmhbaX --ip-address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

• To connect to all the nvme subsystems 

# esxcli nvme fabrics discover --adapter vmhbaX --ip-address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --connect-all

Repeat the above steps to the physical nics that you intend to you use for multipathing.