Newly created NVMe device cannot be recognized by ESXi

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After created a NVMe device on ESXi host, the new NVMe device is not detected during rescan operations (via ESXi Client or esxcli).
• The NVMe controller status may show as "offline."
• It occurs even after formatting the NVMe device to a compatible format using the command:
  esxcli nvme device namespace format -A vmhba# -f 0 -n 1 -m 0 -p 0 -l 0 -s 0.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

In ESXi 8.0 and earlier versions, the Namespace Attribute Notices feature is disabled by default. This prevents the host from detecting newly created NVMe devices.

 

Resolution

To enable the ESXi host to recognize the new NVMe device, follow these steps:

1. Format the NVMe Device ( If the NVMe device has not been changed to be in a supported or expected format)
   Execute the following command to format the device to a sector size supported by ESXi:
   esxcli nvme device namespace format -A vmhba# -f 0 -n 1 -m 0 -p 0 -l 0 -s 0
   For reference, see: Broadcom Knowledge Base Article 388158.
2. Enable Namespace Attribute Notices
   Manually enable the Namespace Attribute Notices feature by running:
   #esxcli nvme device feature aec set -A vmhba# -v 1
   (Replace vmhbaX with the appropriate adapter identifier.)
3. Rescan for Devices
   Perform a rescan of the storage adapters to detect the newly configured NVMe device.

Permanent Resolution:
Upgrade the ESXi host to version 9.0 or later, where Namespace Attribute Notices are enabled by default, ensuring automatic detection of new NVMe devices.