Disabling the VAAI functionality in ESXi

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to disable the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) functionality in ESXi. You may want to disable VAAI if the storage array devices in the environment do not support the hardware acceleration functionality or are not responding correctly to VAAI primitives.

For information on VAAI support in a given storage array or required firmware levels, contact the storage array vendor.

Symptoms:

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Resolution

Disabling VAAI when using Block storage

To disable VAAI in ESXi, you must modify these advanced configuration settings:

HardwareAcceleratedMove
HardwareAcceleratedInit
HardwareAcceleratedLocking

To check the current value of the configuration settings:

Note: Replace OptionName with one of the configuration setting names.

Using the PowerCLI:

Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -VMHost Hostname -Name OptionName

Using SSH/DCUI:

esxcli system settings advanced list --option OptionName

For example:
# esxcli system settings advanced list --option=/VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking
# esxcli system settings advanced list --option=/DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedMove
# esxcli system settings advanced list --option=/DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedInit

To disable HardwareAcceleratedMove, see Disabling Hardware Accelerated Move (XCOPY) in ESXi (2146567) .

To disable HardwareAcceleratedInit, see Disabling Hardware Accelerated Init (WRITESAME) in ESXi (2146566).

To disable HardwareAcceleratedLocking, see Disabling Hardware Accelerated Locking (ATS) in ESXi (2146451).

Note: These steps need to be applied on all ESXi Hosts connected to Storage.

Disabling VAAI when using NAS storage

When disabling NAS VAAI, there are no advanced configuration parameters that can be used. The plugin must be removed using below commands.

Note: The below steps need to be applied on all ESXi Hosts connected to the NAS Storage.

Log into ESXi using SSH/DCUI and execute command:

# esxcli software vib remove –-vibname=name

For Example: # esxcli software vib remove –-vibname=NetAppNasPlugin
Verify that the plugin has been removed using command:

esxcli software vib list
Reboot the ESXi host to take effect.

Additional Information

For more information, see the Turn off Hardware Acceleration section of the ESX Configuration Guide.

To revert this configuration and to enable vStorage APIs for Array Integration functionality, change each of these settings from 0 to 1.

For more information about locking mechanisms, see:

The VMFS Locking Mechanisms section of the vSphere Storage guide
VMware vSphere Blogs - Locking

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Impact/Risks:

Note: If you are running a VMware vSAN environment or have ATS-only VMFS volumes, it is important that Hardware Assisted Locking (ATS) is not disabled. Doing so will result in an outage as there will be no locking mechanism available to use.