LSI Storcli2 and LSA on ESXi 8

[srodenburg]

Good evening,

For days have I been trying to get the ESXi 8 specific versions of the LSA, LWA and Storcli2 software to work in several servers that have LSI 9361-8i MegaRaid controllers or 3008 based HBA's (in vSAN Nodes) to work. All hosts run 8.0 U2

The firmware on the controllers and HBA's is current, yet Storcli2  says: number of controllers found = 0

I went through all the documentation, installed it correctly, making sure that the slpd and wbem daemons are running, did the "Increasing the Memory Limit of the Host Hardware RAID" and the "provMemOveride:hhrc=100" thing etc. etc.
The installations work. The integration of storcli2 into esxcli works fine. But it can't find any of the controllers in any of the servers.

LSA in Windows also does not work. Installed it in Gateway mode, enabled HTTPS, all good. I can discover all the ESXi Servers and all that. But when I login to an ESXi server, doesn't matter which one, I always get the dreaded "repository not initialized" error. I know that the communication with the ESXi Server work because when I type a wrong password for root, it complains that it cannot login.

The documentation is of poor quality. Tons of readme files in all kinds of subfolders, some with completely wrong information (in one LWA for ESXi 8 Zip-file, the readme explains how to install the Emulex FC card stuff....)
The instructions for "Increasing the Memory Limit of the Host Hardware RAID" is also wrong. It says to edit /etc/sfcd/sfcd.cfg  file and add a line "provMemOveride: hhrc=100" to it (yes there is an incorrect space between : and hhrc  as there should be no space. However, editing the sfcd.cfg  file this way has not worked anymore since 7.0 U2 !!  The solution is this: "esxcli system wbem set --rp-override="hhrc=100"

When you, at the moment of writing, want to download the "latest LWA for ESXi" you will find the LSA for Windows in the downloaded ZIP file. WFT???
It's a mess. I have tried several versions of everything as with LSI, sometimes an older version works better (or even at all).

The LWA Software on ESXi also continually uses 100% CPU of one Core/Thread. On all servers (and I have several types). This is a known issue but I can't find a fix for it.

Conflicting information, outdated information, downright false information, it's a nightmare and it still does not work over here.
Some folks got it to work on ESXi 7 but I cannot find a working recipe for ESXi 8.0 to 8.0 U2 (and some readme file somewhere, states that 8.0 U2 is supported).

In the olden days, with LSI SAS2 controllers (RAID and HBA) and ESXi 6.x and 7.x I never had such problems. Installed it without issues so many times I lost count.

My question to the community is this:  has anyone gotten storcli2, LWA and LSA to work with ESXi 8.0 <any version> ?

[srodenburg]

No one?

[Avalon898]

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/storage-and-ethernet-connectivity/enterprise-storage-solutions/megaraid8-tri-mode-software/1-0/StorCLI_MR8_Intro/v116733241/StorCLI2_Supported_Controllers.html

StorCLI2 is only compatible with 96xx series controllers

[srodenburg]

Aha. That explains a lot. Then why on earth do I get StorCli2 as the download when I search the normal download area for the 9361 series....

Do you happen to have a link to a working version of StorCli for ESXi 8.x ?  When I search in the "legacy products" area for the 9361 series  and download the latest "Storcli", it only support ESXi 7.x and lower.

I have the feeling that despite VMware supporting the 9361-8i officially in ESXi 8.x , Broadcom on the other hand, never released management software for these cards on ESXi 8.x (but I hope i'm wrong).

[Kris777]

https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/Unified_storcli_all_os_7.2309.0000.0000.zip

StorCLI from that package works with ESXi 8.0.2. 

[HurcoMv]

I have it working here with ESX 8.0.1 and a 9361-8i.

I've used it to reconfigure one of our arrays successfully.

I assume you've read the readme.txt in the vmware ESXi8 subdirectory after you've downloaded the unified_storcli_all_os zip from Broadcom?

You need to execute storcli commands in the following way now due to ESX 8 security requirements...

esxcli storcli controller show all --id=0

Here's some of the output from the above command...

Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete.

 

CLI Version = 007.2612.0000.0000 June 13, 2023

Operating system = VMkernel 8.0.1

Controller = 0

Status = Success

Description = None

 

 

Basics :

======

Controller = 0

Model = AVAGO MegaRAID SAS 9361-8i

Serial Number = SP02453477

Current Controller Date/Time = 01/16/2024, 22:31:01

Current System Date/time = 01/16/2024, 22:32:31

SAS Address = 500605b0105d3a70

PCI Address = 00:b3:00:00

Mfg Date = 06/15/20

Rework Date = 00/00/00

Revision No = 08B

[Kris777]

I execute storcli directly.

 

/opt/lsi/storcli64] ./storcli64 /c0 show all

CLI Version = 007.2310.0000.0000 Nov 02, 2022
Operating system = VMkernel 8.0.2
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None

Basics :
======
Controller = 0
Model = AVAGO MegaRAID SAS 9361-8i
Serial Number = SV53536764
Current Controller Date/Time = 01/16/2024, 23:39:04
Current System Date/time = 01/16/2024, 23:39:03
SAS Address ....................

[srodenburg]

Hello Kris777,

I got it to work. Storcli2 is not for 9300 series cards. It's for 9400 and later cards. The Broadcom download site should **not** present storcli2 as a valid download for 9300 series cards but it does so anyway. This caused all my problems.

What I needed is the unified_storcli_all_os package v7.26 that HurcoMv mentioned. That package has Storcli64 for ESXi 8 in it and that one works.

Kris777, you say "I execute storcli directly" but you are not. You run Storcli64 and not Storcli. There is a difference between storcli (old) and storcli64 (for cards like the 9300 series). Lastly there is Storcli2 for 9400 and 9500 tri-mode controllers.

I found out by opening a support case. The person helping me, sent me 3 weblinks with non-working versions of storcli. None installed on ESXi 8 with the installer saying only v7 was supported, despite one package even having a ESXi 8 directory and package, which would not install). 3 useless download links before finally discovering that the  unified_storcli_all_os package, version 7.26, has an actually working v8 installer inside.

<Rant mode>
The Broadcom download site is a total mess and not even their own support personell knows where what and how. Can't blame the support person though. He really tried and was super friendly and supportive, but the people publishing those packages and/or manage the search-engine make life miserable for everyone. If I search for 9361-8i software, why do I get over 3100 downloads for just about every product that LSI, Avago / Broadcom has ever made? Why do I get downloads for Emulex FC cards !?!?!?!?!?  But if you search in another way, it makes more sense and you get 11 packages or so. Some are still wrong and utterly irrelevant but 11 is easier to sift through.
</Rant Mode>

[Kris777]

"Kris777, you say "I execute storcli directly" but you are not. You run Storcli64 and not Storcli. There is a difference between storcli (old) and storcli64"

Good observation! Congratulation on making it work.

[EddieA]

I eventually got the storcli vib installed by forcing it, as it said it only supported  7.1 and below.

But I can no longer log in via LSA.  I always get an unknown username or bad password.  So I guess something else changed moving to 8.02U.

[EddieA]

Finally got, I think, storcli64 working correctly and I thought the correct vib installed to allow LSA to run, but I guess no luck there as I'm getting a "5054:Repository Not Initialized" error trying to connect.  Everything worked fine with earlier versions of both ESXi and LSA.

Google isn't helping there as it isn't showing any hits on that error.  I might try poking Broadcom support, but I don't hold out much hope based on my previous interactions with them.

And to stodenburg, I totally agree that the Broadcom site has one of the worst search engines I've also come across when trying to narrow down things.

Cheers.