VMware vSphere 6 on Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers Release Notes February 2021 Rev.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Overview...................................................................................................................... 5 Installation and upgrade instructions.............................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 2: Known issues...............................................................................................................
Incorrect name for Dell PowerEdge FD332 storage controller...............................................................................15 Software RAID is not supported for VMware ESXi................................................................................................... 15 Status of some of the PCI devices is listed as Unknown on vCenter server......................................................15 PSU wattage is not displayed for a ESXi host on the vCenter Server............................
1 Overview VMware vSphere 6 includes the ESXi 6 hypervisor and is managed by vCenter Server 6. The current release of VMware vSphere incorporates feature upgrades, new hardware, feature support, and bug fixes that enhance the virtualization experience in VMware environments. NOTE: The issues that are listed in this document are applicable to Dell EMC servers with VMware vSphere 6 installed.
2 Known issues Topics: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6 Data integrity issue occurs when deleting virtual disks on ESXi system with PERC9 controller in RAID mode qedf driver data integrity may fail at 256 KB block size Uninstallation of Dell EMC OpenManage VIB fails to delete certain files IPMI driver stack may stop responding when iDRAC hard reset is performed Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers with VSAN All-Flash configuration and deduplication enabled,
• • • • vmkernel log file displays an error message Unable to turn on Windows virtual machine when Dell PowerEdge Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD is directly connected as a passthrough device Cannot enable SR-IOV on Intel X520 adapter using vSphere web client The PCI passthrough section on vSphere client or vCenter server does not display Dell PowerEdge Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD Data integrity issue occurs when deleting virtual disks on ESXi system with PERC9 controller in RAID mode Description: On the Del
3. To load the drivers, run Vmkload_mod ipmi_si_drv.
By default, VMFS datastore is disabled on Dell EMC 14th generation PowerEdge Servers with factoryinstalled VMware ESXi on BOSS-S1 Description: The Dell EMC 14 th generation servers installed with ESXi on the BOSS-S1 device do not have VMFS datastore enabled by default. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 Update 3 and later, 14 th generation PowerEdge Servers, and BOSS-S1 Workaround: Dell EMC recommends using the BOSS-S1 device as a boot device only for VMware ESXi.
Applies to: ESXi 6.0.x Solution: This issue can be ignored because there is no functionality loss. Embedded Host Client or vCenter Server reports an error when configuring SR-IOV Description: When configuring SR-IOV with Embedded Host Client or vCenter Server, a warning message is displayed, Failed to configure SR-IOV. Applies to: ESXi 6.0.x Solution: By default, SR-IOV is disabled.
Operating system reinstallation on top of an existing ESXi installation on a BOSS device fails Description: Dell EMC 14 th generation PowerEdge Server configurations include a Boot Optimized Server Storage (BOSS) device for OS boot. BOSS device supports two Intel M.2 devices that are configured as separate non-RAID drives (PD1, PD2) or RAID 1 (VD). This configuration provides an option to have two physical disk (PD1, PD2) or RAID 1(VD) options, utilizing the two physical disks which are Intel M.2 devices.
When iSM VIB is running on ESXi 6.0 U2, syslog file displays error messages intermittently Description: When iDRAC Service Module (iSM) vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) is running on ESXi 6.0 U2 system, the syslog file displays Unknown error messages. This issue may also occur when system is rebooted with the VIB installed. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 U2 Solution: Restart syslog file with this command: kill -15 and sfcbd watchdog timer with this command:/etc/init.
Unable to upgrade VMware ESXi when the ESXi partition table contains a coredump partition Description: When ESXi is deployed on an SD card by using the dd command, VMware ESXi host creates a coredump partition as the second partition, during the first boot and does not allow to upgrade the ESXi. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 Solution: This is a known issue. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 2144074. .
Temperature status of the processor may display incorrectly in vSphere Web Client or vCenter Server Description: On the Dell PowerEdge C6320 servers, when the temperature of the processor crosses critical thresholds, the temperature status of the processor may display incorrectly on the Hardware Health Status tab of the vCenter Server or vSphere Web Client. Applies to: ESXi 6.
Dual port Mellanox card displays incorrect vmnic number Description: The dual port Mellanox card displays an incorrect vmnic number for the second port. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 U2 Solution: There is no workaround. VMware ESXi installer lists local LUNs under the Remote section Description: During VMware ESXi installation the local LUNs exposed from some PERC controllers are listed under the Remote section of the installer. Applies to: ESXi 6.
PSU wattage is not displayed for a ESXi host on the vCenter Server Description: For Dell's 13th generation of PowerEdge servers with ESXi the power (Watt) of a Power Supply Unit (PSU) is not displayed in the Power section on the Hardware Status tab on vCenter Server. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 U2 Solution: This issue can be ignored because there is no functionality loss.
ESXi 6.0 host does not function and results in Purple Screen of Death Description: For Dell's 13th generation of PowerEdge systems, when NPAR is enabled on Emulex network devices and VLAN is configured, the ESXi host does not function and results in Purple Screen of Death (PSOD). Applies to: ESXi 6.0 Solution: Disable NPAR or OS2BMC or VLAN configuration.
Unable to turn on Windows virtual machine when Dell PowerEdge Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD is directly connected as a passthrough device Description: Unable to turn on Microsoft Windows VMs such as Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 SP1, Microsoft Windows 2012, or Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 when PCIe SSDs such as Express Flash NVMe PCIe SSD is directly connected as a passthrough device. Applies to: ESXi 6.0 U2 Solution: The maximum number of VMs that Windows can support is 31.
3 Related information for virtualization solutions Table 1. Related information for virtualization solutions If you need information about See Dell EMC VMware documentation www.dell.com/virtualizationsolutions OpenManage documentation https://www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals PowerEdge documentation https://www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals Basic configuration information for running ESXi on a Dell EMC PowerEdge server Getting Started Guide at www.dell.
Technical support resources ● vmware.com/support ● www.dell.com/support/home ● Dell.com/services Discussion forums ● ● ● ● Communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn Dell Virtualization Wikis, Forums, Blogs, and Videos Dell Community Knowledge base ● kb.vmware.com/kb NOTE: For more information that is related to the VMware ESXi installation on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, go to Dell Virtualization.
4 Getting help Topics: • Contacting Dell EMC Contacting Dell EMC Dell EMC provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. Availability varies by country, region, and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell EMC for sales, technical assistance, or customer service issues, see www.dell.com/contactdell.
