Managing iSER devices created on deprecated driver for RDMA HW
Article ID: 311927
Updated On:
Products
VMware vSphere ESXi
Issue/Introduction
Helps users clean-up iSER object(s) that were created on deprecated devices prior to ESXi upgrade to 8.x.
Symptoms:
Users will see placeholder iSER vmhba(s) created on RDMA devices with deprecated device drivers like below when storage adapters are listed
# esxcli storage core adapter list
| HBA Name | Driver | Link State | UID | Capabilities | Description |
| vmhba64 | iser | link-n/a | unknown.vmhba64 | Second Level Lun ID | () Unknown |
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.0
Cause
nmlx4 RDMA device driver deprecation combined with lack of iSER specific config manager support.
Resolution
Once ESXi is upgraded to 8.x, subsequent upgrades will not need this procedure.
Workaround:
Before ESXi upgrade is initiated, users must make note of all virtual RDMA (vmrdmaXX) devices whose corresponding RDMA NIC's driver is being deprecated in the upgraded version.
# esxcli rdma device list| Name | Driver | State | MTU | Speed | Paired Link | Description |
| vmrdma0 | nmlx4_rdma | Active | 1024 | 40 Gbps | vmnic6 | MT27520 Family [ConnectX-3 Pro] |
| vmrdma1 | nmlx4_rdma | Active | 1024 | 40 Gbps | vmnic1000602 | MT27520 Family [ConnectX-3 Pro] |
| vmrdma4 | nmlx5_rdma | Active | 1024 | 100 Gbps | vmnic4 | MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5 PCIe 3.0] |
| vmrdma5 | nmlx5_rdma | Active | 1024 | 100 Gbps | vmnic5 | MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5 PCIe 3.0] |
Once ESXi is upgraded to 8.x. users can clean up placeholder iSER vmhba(s) using procedure below.
List storage adapters on the host
# esxcli storage core adapter list
| HBA Name | Driver | Link State | UID | Capabilities | Description |
| vmhba66 | iser | link-n/a | unknown.vmhba66 | Second Level Lun ID | () Unknown |
| vmhba67 | iser | link-n/a | unknown.vmhba67 | Second Level Lun ID | () Unknown |
| vmhba68 | iser | online | iqn.2018-10.com.vmware:iser-dell-02:iser1 | Second Level Lun ID | VMware iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) Adapter |
| vmhba69 | iser | online | iqn.2018-10.com.vmware:iser-dell-02:iser2 | Second Level Lun ID | VMware iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) Adapter |
Delete each iSER device with unknown UID and Description
esxcli rdma iser delete -d vmrdma0
esxcli rdma iser delete -d vmrdma1
Then, confirm that clean up is complete
# esxcli storage core adapter list
| HBA Name | Driver | Link State | UID | Capabilities | Description |
| vmhba68 | iser | online | iqn.2018-10.com.vmware:iser-dell-02:iser1 | Second Level Lun ID | VMware iSCSI over RDMA(iSER) Adapter |
| vmhba69 | iser | online | iqn.2018-10.com.vmware:iser-dell-02:iser2 | Second Level Lun ID | VMware iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) Adapter |
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