vSAN -- Skyline Health -- Hardware Compatibility - Controller firmware is VMware certified

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

This health check verifies whether the storage I/O controller firmware is compatible with the controller on the ESXi host and the version of ESXi.
If the controller is on the VMware vSAN Hardware Compatibility Guide ( = Broadcom Compatibility Guide ) and passes appropriate controller checks, 
the Controller Firmware Check verifies that the firmware version in use is on the list of supported drivers.
If the controller's firmware version is not listed in the vSAN VCG for this device and the ESXi version, the vSAN environment might be at risk.

This check might fail:

• If vSAN cannot fetch the firmware version, which can occur when the appropriate vendor tool is not installed. In this case, the status for the controller is Unknown.
• If the Skyline Health is also reporting alerts in regards to failed checks in relation to Controller, this check also fails. 

 

Environment

VMware vSAN 6.x
VMware vSAN 7.x

VMware vSAN 8.x

Resolution

If this test fails, update the HCL DB (JSON file) manually.
It is possible that the hardware or its firmware, or the release of the driver were recently added to the vSAN VCG. 
Then check if the appropriate vendor tool is installed, and verify that vSAN can fetch the firmware version.

How to query the make, model, and version of your storage I/O controller:

• For versions below 6.5: See the attached pdf VMware vSAN Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Reference Manual
• For versions 6.5 & later: Run command esxcli vsan debug controller list

For Versions 7.0 & higher: 
The Firmware of your I/O controller can be upgraded via vSphere Lifecycle Manager.


If you cannot determine storage I/O controller information, contact VMware Support.
For more information, see How to file a Support Request in Customer Connect (2006985).
For more information on collecting VMware vSAN logs, see How to collect vSAN support logs and upload to VMware (2072796) .


Note:

• VMware discontinued the requirement for installation of PERCCLI and STORCLI, starting from ESXi 7.0, an 'Unknown' will be displayed in the firmware version field even if those tools are installed. The display of 'Unknown' will NOT trigger any Health Check warnings.
• The alert "Controller firmware is VMware certified" might also come up, if the controller driver or driver version does not match with the Broadcom Compatibility Guide, even though the firmware version matches. You can ignore this warning or silence the alert
• In a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Environment, upgrade pre-check might fail during VSAN Health Check.  Please follow the KB vSAN HCL check continually fails to verify firmware version during Workload Domain pre-check (81869).