VMware vSphere 7.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers Release Notes December 2020 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. © 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Release summary..........................................................................................................5 Version................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Release date........................................................................................................................................................................
The hardware label for PCIe devices is shown as Not appropriate....................................................................... 16 Description of the NVMe drive displayed is incorrect...............................................................................................17 Chapter 5: Resources and support............................................................................................... 18 Related information for virtualization solutions.............................................
1 Release summary VMware vSphere 7.0 includes the ESXi 7.0 hypervisor and is managed by vCenter Server 7.0. 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 7.0 installed. Topics: • • • Version Release date Priority and recommendations Version 7.
2 Compatibility Topics: • System configuration requirements System configuration requirements Memory The following table lists the system memory requirements for VMware vSphere 7.0 on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. Table 1. Memory requirements for VMware vSphere 7.0 Memory Size Minimum recommended system memory 1.
3 New and enhanced in VMware vSphere 7.0 release VMware vSphere 7.0 includes the ESXi 7.0 hypervisor and is managed by vCenter Server 7.0. 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 only applicable for Dell EMC servers with VMware vSphere 7.0 installed.
4 Known issues Topics: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Configuration changes made are not persistent across hosts that are restarted Operating system takes more time to complete boot when Intel DCPMM is configured in the interleaved app-direct mode All vCPUs assigned to a virtual machine are not visible in the guest operating system The Dell iSM and SFCB services fail to start after DCUI restarts the management agents Hostd core dump files are generated in /var/core on the VMware
Operating system takes more time to complete boot when Intel DCPMM is configured in the interleaved app-direct mode Description: Dell EMC PowerEdge servers with the VMware ESXi operating system installed take more time to complete boot when Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM) is configured in the interleaved app-direct mode. The time taken to complete the boot depends on the capacity, configuration, and the number of sockets on the server.
2. Run the command: /etc/init.d/sfcbd-watchdog restart or /sbin/services.sh restart Systems affected: All Dell EMC PowerEdge servers Tracking number: 176426 Hostd core dump files are generated in /var/core on the VMware ESXi 7.0 host Description: After the management agents are restarted from the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) on VMware ESXi 7.0 hosts, hostd core dump files are generated. Applies to: ESXi 7.0.
cable are disconnected. This issue is related to the HTML client used by both the ESXi host web client and the vCenter web client. Applies to: ESXi 7.0 Workaround: The esxcli hardware ipmi sdr list command displays the correct status of the NVDIMM battery. Systems affected: All Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.
The Hardware Health tab of the vCenter Web Client does not display any information when a drive is removed Description: The Hardware Health tab does not generate alerts in the vCenter Web Client when a drive is removed from the ESXi host or when a RAID storage array is modified. Applies to: ESXi 7.0 Workaround: The drive status of the ESXi host is marked as Deassert under the Hardware Health tab when it is removed.
VMware ESXi 7.0 does not boot after upgrading from VMware ESXi 6.5.x Description: VMware ESXi 7.0 does not boot after upgrading from VMware ESXi 6.5.x using VMware vSphere Update Manager (VUM). The following error message is observed during boot: Fatal Error. This issue is observed when the VMware ESXi 7.0 A01 image is installed. Applies to: ESXi 7.0 Workaround: Use the VMware ESXi 7.0 A02 image for upgrading from VMware ESXi 6.5.x. Systems affected: All Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.
Workaround: Dell EMC customized image A02 supports surprise removal of NVMe device. Systems affected: All Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. Tracking number: 161528 Surprise hot-plug of an NVMe in a vSAN environment results in a PSOD Description: When an NVMe drive, which is configured for the cache or capacity tiers in a vSAN environment, is removed abruptly, a PSOD results. Applies to: ESXi 7.0 Workaround: Dell EMC customized image A02 supports surprise removal of NVMe device.
The driver modules qedf and qedi are not available for the QLogic 412xx adapter Description: In an ESXi 7.0 build, the driver modules qedf and qedi are not available for the QLogic 412xx adapter. Applies to: ESXi 7.0 Workaround: Upgrade the in-box driver to the latest async drivers listed in the VMware HCL for ESXi 7.0 or use VMware ESXi 7.0 A01 image or above. For more information, see VMware Knowledge Base article 78632. Systems affected: All Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.
Tracking number: 154804 FCoE adapter speed is displayed as 0 Description: Dell EMC PowerEdge systems MX740c and MX840c with ESXi 7.0 and FC adapter configuration displays the FCoE adapter speed as 0 when you run one of the following commands: ● esxcli storage san fc list ● localcli storage san fc list When you run the same command on the same system that is configured with an FC device and a lun that is associated with an FC device, the FC adapter speed is not displayed as 0. Applies to: ESXi 7.
Workaround: There is no workaround. This issue can be ignored as it is a cosmetic issue, and there is no functionality loss. For more information about the PCIe device info, use vCenter Server or the esxcli command: esxcfgnics -l. Systems affected: Dell EMC PowerEdge servers with AMD processors. Tracking number: 137055 Description of the NVMe drive displayed is incorrect Description: The description of the Dell Express Flash PM1735 3.
5 Resources and support This section provides information about the documentation resources for your server. Table 2. Additional documentation resources for your server Task Document Location Setting up your server For information about installing the server into a rack, see the rack documentation included with your rack solution or the Getting Started Guide that is shipped with your server. www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals For information about turning on www.dell.
Table 2. Additional documentation resources for your server (continued) Task Document Location www.dell.com/ openmanagemanuals > OpenManage Essentials User’s Guide. For information about installing and using Dell SupportAssist, see the Dell EMC SupportAssist Enterprise User's Guide. https://www.dell.com/serviceabilitytools For understanding the features of Dell EMC Lifecycle Controller (LC), see the Lifecycle Controller User's Guide. www.dell.
Related information for virtualization solutions Table 3. Related information for virtualization solutions If you need information about See Dell EMC VMware documentation www.dell.com/virtualizationsolutions OpenManage documentation www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals PowerEdge documentation www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals Basic configuration information for running ESXi on a Dell EMC PowerEdge server Getting Started Guide at www.dell.
Table 4. Virtualization videos for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers Video title Links Downloading the Dell EMC customized ESXi image from support site www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnVxtkAkYTI Downloading Dell EMC customized ESXi image from VMware website www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWyuyxuk5k OS Deployment (VMware ESXi)—Installing Using CD/DVD www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EbufUS86zA Enabling and Configuring Fault Resilient Memory on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers www.youtube.
Table 5. Additional documentation resources for your server (continued) Task Managing your server Document Location For information about updating drivers and firmware, see Download drivers and firmware topic in this document. www.dell.com/support/drivers For information about server www.dell.com/openmanagemanuals management software offered by Dell EMC, see the Dell EMC Systems Management Overview Guide.
Table 5. Additional documentation resources for your server (continued) Task Document Location generated by the system firmware and agents that monitor server components, see the Dell EMC Event and Error Messages Reference Guide. Troubleshooting your system For information about identifying www.dell.com/poweredgemanuals and troubleshooting the PowerEdge server issues, see the PowerEdge Servers Troubleshooting Guide.
Table 6. PowerEdge servers naming convention and examples (continued) YX3X servers YX4X systems YX4XX systems YX5XX PowerEdge M830 PowerEdge R440 PowerEdge R7415 PowerEdge R7515 PowerEdge T130 PowerEdge R540 PowerEdge R7425 PowerEdge R6525 Download drivers and firmware It is recommended that you download and install the latest BIOS, drivers, and systems management firmware on your system. Ensure that you clear the web browser cache before downloading the drivers and firmware. 1. Go to www.dell.
6 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. If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or the product catalog.
