6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Storage Controller Limitations
Storage controllers have the following requirements and limitations:
n
LSI Logic SAS and VMware Paravirtual SCSI are available for virtual machines with ESXi 4.x and
later compatibility.
n
AHCI SATA is available only for virtual machines with ESXi 5.5 and later compatibility.
n
NVMe is available only for virtual machines with ESXi 6.5 and later compatibility.
n
BusLogic Parallel controllers do not support virtual machines with disks larger than 2TB.
Caution Changing the controller type after the guest operating system is installed will make the disk and
any other devices connected to the adapter inaccessible. Before you change the controller type or add a
new controller, make sure that the guest operating system installation media contains the necessary
drivers. On Windows guest operating systems, the driver must be installed and configured as the boot
driver.
Storage Controller Compatibility
Adding different types of storage controllers to virtual machines that use BIOS firmware can cause
operating system boot problems. In the following cases, the virtual machine might fail to boot correctly
and you might have to enter the BIOS setup and select the correct boot device:
n
If the virtual machine boots from LSI Logic SAS or VMware Paravirtual SCSI, and you add a disk that
uses BusLogic, LSI Logic, or AHCI SATA controllers.
n
If the virtual machine boots from AHCI SATA, and you add BusLogic Parallel or LSI Logic controllers.
Adding additional disks to virtual machines that use EFI firmware does not cause boot problems.
Table 54. VMware Storage Controller Compatibility
Existing
Controller Added Controller
BusLogic
Parallel LSI Logic
LSI Logic
SAS
VMware
Paravirtual
SCSI AHCI SATA IDE NVME
BusLogic
Parallel
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LSI Logic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LSI Logic SAS Requires
BIOS setup
Requires
BIOS setup
Usually
Works
Usually
Works
Requires
BIOS setup
Yes Usually Works
VMware
Paravirtual
SCSI
Requires
BIOS setup
Requires
BIOS setup
Usually
Works
Usually
Works
Requires
BIOS setup
Yes Usually Works
AHCI SATA Requires
BIOS setup
Requires
BIOS setup
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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