NVMe SSDs not detected in ESXi

Products

• VMware vSAN
• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• Newly installed NVMe SSDs are detected at the driver level (esxcli nvme device list) but do not appear as usable storage devices in the ESXi UI or /dev/disks/.
  
  
• The NVMe controller status may show as offline.
  
  
• Attempts to format the namespace using esxcli nvme device namespace format fail with the error: Failed to offline namespace.
  
  
• The Device Display Name appears empty when checking with esxcfg-mpath -l or in the vCenter Server storage adapter view.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

The specific NVMe device IDs are not listed on the Broadcom Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
Devices not on the HCL are not supported for use as ESXi storage or vSAN storage.

Resolution

Identify the Vendor ID (VID), Device ID (DID), Sub-Vendor ID (SVID) and Sub-Device ID (SSID) of the controller and verify HCL Support.