HP customized ESXi images have vSAN driver issues?

[drheim]

We have a 2-node 6.5u2 ESXi/vSAN running on HP Gen10 servers that I want to upgrade to 6.7u2.  I went to go download the customized HP images from the VMWare site, and there are notes that I think are saying the customized images basically not supporting vSAN - "VMware vSAN environment is not supported with the HPE ProLiant Gen10 Smart Array Controller smartpqi driver version 1.0.3.2302"

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI67U2-HPE&productId=745

So my question is should I upgrade with the non-hp customized images(VMWare HCL shows support for 6.7u2 on the correct hardware)? or is there any reason I should wait for the HP customized images to get updated with the needed drivers in a few months?  (6.7u1 had the same notes). 

Thanks,

Dave

[Jim Goodman]

You will need 1.0.3.2309 driver and the 1.99 controller FW  which has recently been certified for vSAN 6.7u2 and is available for download.

Not sure when the next SPP and esxi custom bundle will be released, but I am all green with vSAN6.7u2 on DL380Gen10 once I updated the Controller FW

FW 1.99 SmartComponent: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-a00071158en_us

FW 1.99 RPM for use with SUM: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_f39cbc54191048e29ad96b08d5

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[drheim]

This helped tremendously.  I am thinking I put the server in maintenance mode, apply the flash first and then apply the updated ISO through VUM with the driver update at that time.  If you did it differently let me know as ideally I do not want it to start resyncing until everything is sorted.

[TheBobkin]

Hello Dave,

"let me know as ideally I do not want it to start resyncing until everything is sorted."

Then consider temporarily setting clom repair delay timer to a higher value than default 60 minutes if not already set higher and if 2 reboots and firmware update might take longer than this.

This can be configured across the entire cluster in 6.7 U1 and later via:

Cluster > Configure > vSAN > Services > Advanced Options > Object Repair Timer

And don't forget to take hosts out of MM once they are done.

Bob

[Jim Goodman]

drheim - in my case I didn't realize there was a problem with the 1.98 FW that originally was published in SPP201903 until I remediate my vSAN cluster via VUM and found that the updates moved me to 6.7u2, oops. Fortunately everything seemed to work ok on the vSAN without issue. I had a persistent error in vSAN health about the controller firmware not being certified.

So as far as order... depends on where you are in your versioning. In my experience, one of the problems doing the controller FW first is the controller driver may fail due to compatibility issues where newer drivers are more apt to be backward compatible to older FW. Because it was vSAN I updated the controller FW one host at a time via iLO Repository while in Maintenance Mode. When it comes to updating my vSAN I find I can only hold my breath for so long :smileywink:

My 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

[drheim]

Hey guys, Thanks for all the feedback on this as it really makes a big difference as we only do this once a year and I just want to make sure I go to something 100% supported and stable.  I was thinking of flashing the firmware first, but it does sound like doing the image+driver first is a better method. Your posts make my job a lot easier.