NGX Storage Knowledge Base
Direct attach fibre channel host initiator not detected
Applies To
- Gen1 / Gen2 Hybrid and All-Flash Series
Issue
Administrators may notice a combination of the following symptoms:
- When attaching FC cable directly between host and storage, the initiator WWPN is not seen.
- The host and storage HBA LEDs status indicates that no link is present.
- The operating system host HBA driver reports no link present.
- In rare cases controller panic.
Cause
Merging the lpfc and brcmnvmefc drivers: Starting with vSphere 7.0 Update 3, the brcmnvmefc driver is no longer available. The NVMe over Fibre Channel functionality previously delivered with the brcmnvmefc driver is now included in the lpfc driver. (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/rn/vsphere-esxi-70u3c-release-notes.html)
NGX Storage does not support direct attach NVMe (N2N) over fiber channel. For direct-attached FC configurations, NGX Storage recommends disabling FC-NVMe.
Resolution
When using the qlnativefc Driver, to work around this issue if you do not want to use NVMe devices:
1. Set the parameter by running this command:
esxcfg-module -s 'ql2xnvmesupport=0' qlnativefc
2. Then reboot. This disables NVMe support.
Note: Marvell FC NVMe adapter and NVMe LUN devices which connected to adapter will not be accessed.
When using the lpfc Driver, to work around this issue if you do not want to use NVMe devices:
1. Set the parameter by running this command:
esxcli system module parameters set -m lpfc -p lpfc_enable_fc4_type=1
2. Then reboot. This disables NVMe support.
Additional Information