A specific NVMe/SSD brand listing is not found in the vSAN Hardware Compatibility List, despite other brands with the same PCI ID being listed

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vSphere environments where Hardware Support Manager (HSM) is not configured requires manual Hardware Compatibility check to be performed for the vSAN's NVMe/SSD device. "Unable to determine compliance because the firmware version cannot be read from the device. Manually verify firmware compliance."

• The vSphere administrator may also need to verify the compatibility of the NVMe/SSD's driver/firmware and its compatibility with the ESXi version, before/after upgrading/patching the ESXi host.

• Now when the device's PCI ID (VID, DID, SVID and SDID) is checked against the vSAN Hardware Compatibility List, the NVMe's brand may not be listed, but the listed NVMes/SSDs match the PCI ID of the device in the environment.

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.x

VMware vSAN 8.x

Resolution

• Sometimes, the NVMe/SSD's branded listing may not be listed in the vSAN Hardware Compatibility List.

• Thus, to validate compatibility, the listing corresponding to the physical server's (hardware) brand, where the NVMe/SSD is attached, can be used.