NVME card and vSAN Compatibility Guide and storage controller for vSAN and non-vSAN workloads

[Bab]

i am using follow NVME card and according to vSAN Compatibility Guide it is not compatibale with VSAN 7 .0

1- this is strange because this is new model . is that possible this card work with VSAN 7 or it is possible to compatible in the next update ?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise HP 1.6TB NVMe Mixed Use HH/HL PCIe Workload Accelerator NVMe

ESXi 6.7 U3 (vSAN 6.7 Update 3),ESXi 6.7 U2 (vSAN 6.7 Update

2),ESXi 6.7 U1 (vSAN 6.7 Update 1),ESXi 6.7 (vSAN 6.7),vSAN 6.6 (ESXi

Also I am using : Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen10 SAS

ESXi 7.0 (vSAN 7.0),ESXi 6.7 U3 (vSAN 6.7 Update 3),ESXi 6.7 U2 (vSAN

6.7 Update 2),ESXi 6.7 U1 (vSAN 6.7 Update 1),ESXi 6.7 (vSAN 6.7),vSAN

6.6 (ESXi 6.5.0d),ESXi 6.5 U3 (vSAN 6.6.1 U3),ESXi 6.5 U2 (vSAN 6.6.1

U2),ESXi 6.5 U1 (vSAN 6.6.1),ESXi 6.5 (vSAN 6.5),ESXi 6.0 U3 (vSAN 6.2

Update 3)

2- As I know with VSAN 6.7 we can use one storage controller for vSAN and non-vSAN workloads but nothing say in compatibility guide that my storage controller can support or not ?

[TheBobkin]

Hello baber​,

"1- this is strange because this is new model . is that possible this card work with VSAN 7 or it is possible to compatible in the next update ?"

First off, I would advise when asking about specific hardware components (either here or anywhere really) you note the model and/or part-numbers as opposed to general name.

Going to assume you are speaking of Model: LT1600KEXVB - Part#: 803202-B21 - this model was released 3 years ago and thus I wouldn't consider it new.

Note that these are only certified for usage as All-Flash Capacity-tier in all versions of vSAN (e.g. unsupported as Cache-tier devices).

Whether they are in the process of certification testing for any version of vSAN should be first asked of the hardware vendor as they test them before VMware does.

You *may* be able to get more information with regard to whether there are indications of ongoing certification for this by contacting GSS vSAN. However whether that is indicated or not has no bearing on whether and/or when said devices may appear on the vSAN HCL.

"2- As I know with VSAN 6.7 we can use one storage controller for vSAN and non-vSAN workloads but nothing say in compatibility guide that my storage controller can support or not ?"

Actually that is the opposite of the case - it is not supported to use controllers for a mix of vSAN and non-vSAN workloads unless you are specifically referring to boot and/or disks for logging (or maybe low-use ISO storage). The only controller (that I am aware of) that has caveats with regard to not supporting logging and/or VMFS on the same controller as vSAN workloads is all variants of H730p.

VMware Knowledge Base

VMware Knowledge Base

Bob

[Bab]

1- Thanks. But that is not my model and part#. I have attached my pic's card . but could not find anything about that on VSAN HCL

Would you please help me about it ?

2 - I was read that in VSAN deep dive book " Starting with vSAN 6.7, storage controllers are now checked to see if they can run vSAN and non-vSAN workloads concurrently. If they can, this will be explicitly listed against the controller on the compatibility guide. If  it  is  not  listed,  it  would  be  best  to  dedicate  the  selected  controller  to  vSAN  workload  or  non-vSAN  workloads,  and  not  to  mix  them  on  the  same controller. "

[TheBobkin]

Hello baber​,

It is this device, but as I said, whether it is in the process or planned for certification testing for vSAN 7.0 should be first asked of the hardware vendor

VMware Compatibility Guide - ssd

Regarding your other question, I'm not sure if that is still the plan or not - it could have been an idea borne out of the issues with H730 controllers not working well when there was VMFS on the same controller as the vSAN workloads. Since those though, I haven't seen any controllers that have the same caveat, other than the basic recommendation that mixing should avoided and if used then only for ISOs etc. and not VM workloads.

I am not really sure why anyone would want to run VMs on local-only VMFS when you have a vsanDatastore attached other than maybe something that you wanted to be available when only one host was up (but for that one could always just go FTT=0 and pin the data to that host instead). Controllers (on the vSAN HCL or otherwise) are relatively cheap components (compared to disks anyway) so unless there was an issue with limited slots etc. I can't see why having seperate ones (e.g. for RAID1 boot devices or something) would be a big deal.

Bob

[Bab]

1-  I have 2 type of disk that according to attach pic HP has certificated both of them for VSAN but cannot find then on vmware vsan HCL now , are these models compatible with vsan7 ?

2- My means from non-vsan workload is about esxi that has intaIled on local disk and don't have any vm on my local disk, now I think in this mode cannot use pass-through my storage controller (my storage controller support pass-through) . Can I use pass-though while my esxi has been installed on local disk  ?

3 - My means from non=vsan workload was about esxi that has been installed on local disk now in this mode can I use just this storage controller for vsan workload and non- vsan workload (esxi that has been installed on local disk ) ?

[Duncan Epping]

The SSD is on the HCL:

VMware Compatibility Guide - ssd

[Duncan Epping]

Somehow I can't find the P10264-X21. You will need to contact HPE about that, they are responsible for certifying devices for particular releases of vSAN.

[Bab]

As I have attached nvme.jpg in my previous post HP has certificated that but could not find anything in vmware VSAN HCL .about support it for VSAN 7 .

[Duncan Epping]

this is the link for the NVMe device, but I don't see "X21" specifically, VMware Compatibility Guide - vsan

[Bab]

As I contact with HPE support team they said we have certificated it with VSAN and vmware had to confirm that will be work for VSAN7 or not .

[Duncan Epping]

That is not how it works. But you can always email: [e-mail]

[Bab]

So thanks. but would you please help me about this :

My storage controller support pass-through now I have 2 HDD siak that esxi has been installed on them with raid 1 and 3 SSD disks now 2 questions :

1- is that possible use just this controller for use both vsan workload and non vsan workload (non vsam means just esxi that has been installed on local disks) ?

2- in this mode, can I pass-through my storage controller or just for esxi that has installed on local disk cannot do that ?

BR

[DanRobinsonHPE]

I know this is way late, but just wanted to drop a note.

X in X21 = a placeholder/wildcard.

B21 = Compute team
H21 = HPC team
K21 = Storage team

This all has to do with which team gets credit for your sale within HPE.

The drives themselves are identical between B/H/K

Best bet when searching the drive PN on vSAN IO HCL is to just use the 6 digit prefix and completely drop the X21 part.

 

You can see on the main SSD QuickSpec there is a note about this naming convention:
https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00001288enw.html?jumpid=in_pdp-psnow-qs
(CTRL+F for X21)

Hope this helps clear up the mud for any future readers stumbling across this thread.