ESX host commission on SDDC Manager failed with error - "Failed to validate vSAN HCL status"

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to commission an ESX host on SDDC Manager, while in the Commission Hosts - Host Addition and Validation page, performing the VALIDATE action on the host fails when vSAN ESA is selected Enabled.

The red banner error displayed is: "host_fqdn: Failed to validate vSAN HCL status."

In the log file /var/log/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/operationsmanager.log entries (one or multiple, depending on the number of drives in the host) similar to the below are observed -

HostReference:XX.XX.XX.XX","vmhbax","t10.NVMe____XXXXXXXXXXXXX___________________________XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX","No","yellow#common.uncertified","*****","vSAN ESA","vSAN"]

 

Environment

VCF 5.2.x

Cause

The disks in the ESX host are not identified as vSAN ESA certified, therefore the validation for vSAN HCL fails.

Resolution

It should be verified that the vSAN HCL on the SDDC Manager is up to date.

Use the article below to confirm this, and update the vSAN HCL if necessary - 

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/387124

 

If the validation fails even after updating the vSAN HCL, then the identified disks in /var/log/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/operationsmanager.log truly are not currently vSAN ESA certified.

In a scenario where only some of the disks in an ESX host are identified as not being currently vSAN ESA certified, these disks can be detached from the ESX host - such that they are not used, and therefore not enumerated during the validation.

Important - it must first be determined that the disk in question is not the disk that the ESX host is booting from.

This detachment can take the form of the disk being physically removed from the ESX host or by implementing the steps below to toggle the detached state of the identified disks from on to off from the ESX cli and confirm the change - 

• ssh to the ESX host and issue this command to identify the disks device_ID 

esxcli storage filesystem list

• Use the identified disk device_ID in the command below to toggle the detached state from on to off

esxcli storage core device set --device <device_ID> --state=off

• The disk is now detached, to confirm use this command -

esxcli storage core device detached list

• Alternatively, to confirm the disks detached status - review the ESX host UI, Storage, Devices page and confirm there is a status of Unknown for the drive

Retry the validation on the SDDC Manager, it is now expected to succeed.

Note - if may be necessary to toggle the status from on to off more than once in order for the validation to recognise that the disks are in fact detached.

 

Aside, the command below could be used to remove the disk - per http://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/323128 -

esxcli storage core device detached remove -d <device_ID>