ESXi 8.0 installation fails at partition phase on Cisco UCS with Infinidat SAN

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to install VMware ESXi 8.0u3 (specifically using a Cisco custom ISO) on Cisco UCS B200-M5 blades where boot volumes are hosted on an Infinidat Infinibox SAN, the installation process may fail.

Symptoms:

• The ESXi installer fails during the "partition phase" or while attempting to create the VMFS volume.
• The environment includes Cisco FI6454 fabric interconnects and Cisco MDS switches.
• Intermittent storage latency or errors are noted during the installation process.

Environment

• VMware ESXi: 8.0u3 (Cisco Custom ISO)
• Server Hardware: Cisco UCS B200-M5 / Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect
• Storage: Infinidat Infinibox SAN (Firmware 7.3.30.60)
• Network Hardware: Cisco MDS Series switches

Cause

The issue is triggered when the Fibre Channel (FC) uplink speed is set to 8 Gbps on the Cisco MDS switch and the fill pattern is not configured correctly. This can cause the uplinks to lose synchronization intermittently or experience bad packets, leading to the failure of storage-intensive tasks like VMFS partitioning. This behavior is documented under Cisco BugID: CSCvj31676.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, set the fill pattern to IDLE on the Cisco MDS switch ports connected to the Fabric Interconnects.

1. Identify the MDS switch ports connected upstream from the Cisco FI6454.
2. Verify if the FC uplink speed is operating at 8 Gbps.
3. Access the switch configuration and set the fill pattern for those specific ports to IDLE.
4. Retry the ESXi installation.