After a long an arduous certification and regression testing process following many problems with LSI 3108 based controllers that I have been using for VSAN they are finally VSAN 6.2 certified.

Having seen and opened multiple tickets about strange controller behaviors (hot add controller do VMware have released a FW/HW and Software combo that, according to a highly regarded VMware internal storage resource:

Its certainly the most tested combination of a firmware/driver/controller ever at this point […] My understanding is the reason this took so long is they didn’t just fix the big issue, but also minor ones too, and any minor regressions

I have been following a few VMware KBs with a keen eye in particular, it’s worth giving these a read over so you are aware of all the intricacies involved:

Certification of Dell PERC H730 and FD332-PERC Controllers with VSAN 6.x (2144614) https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2144614 ↗

Required VSAN and ESXi configuration for controllers based on the LSI 3108 chipset (2144936) https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=2144936 ↗

And the HCL for the particular controller I am using (the Dell H730 mini): http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=vsanio&productid=34859 ↗

VSAN HCL

It should be noted as well as upgrading the firmware and driver on the controller and VSAN hosts, the diskIoTimeout and diskIoRetryFactor advanced parameters should also still be implemented when rolling out with this controller from this KB ↗.

So, go forth and install, reap the benefits of VSAN 6.2 of which there are many ↗!

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