No Asset Information Available for some Dell based VMWare ESX/ESXi RAID Status and Physical Drive Services

Last Modified

Tue Aug 25 21:14 GMT 2020

Description

  • This article provides brief information on an issue where no Asset Information is available for Physical Drive (VMware) and RAID Status (VMware) on Dell hardware when the Dell Offline Bundle is installed and other components are detected and monitored.

Environment

  • All N-able N-central
  • VMWare ESXi 5.x and newer
  • Dell servers with a PERC controller using an LSI Chipset

Solution

  • Dell servers with a PERC controller using an LSI Chipset are not supported by the Dell provided Offline Bundle.
  • The Dell Offline Bundle does not report data for these type of devices.

ESXi 6.7 or later

  • ESXi 6.7 has officially deprecated the SMIS provider,
  • We are unaware of a method to get ESXi 6.7 and newer to provide the RAID information for monitoring by N-able N-central.
  • To monitor physical drives, please upgrade your N-central server and Windows Probes to 2021.1 or later.
ESXi pre-6.7
  • For versions earlier than ESXi 6.7, your solution will involve installing the appropriate VIBs for your hardware.
  • The VIBs are hardware specific so please call VMware to request support as they will host any working VIBs for the hardware in question.
    1. Go to http://www.avagotech.com/support/download-search.
    2. In the Keyword field, enter: SMIS.
    3. Click Search.
    4. Expand Management Software and Tools.
    5. Download the latest SMIS Provider for your ESXi version.
    6. Install the package on your ESXi server (requires a reboot).
    7. Run a probe based discovery of the ESXi server.
    8. When the discovery is complete, re-apply the ESXi service template to add the RAID and physical drive services.
  • The CIM Provider package may also be necessary.
  1. Enter the host into maintenance mode.
  2. Download the Dell Open Manage VIB (latest version).
  3. Install the VIB on the esxi server using VCLI (copy the vib file to the ESXi host using WINSCP to /var, and then run the following command: esxcli software vib install-v /var/openmanage.vib
  4. Reboot the ESXi host.
  5. Place the ESXi host into maintenance mode again.
  6. Download the LSI VIB from the avago Technolgies website.
    a. Search for CIM
    b. Expand Management Software and Tools
    c. Download the appropriate CIM Provider Package for VMWARE
  7. Install the Drive bundle as per step 3.
  8. Remove from maintenance mode and reboot the ESXi host.
  9. Use VSPHERE to check that the CIM has been installed correctly, you should see physical drive and RAID.
  • Another way to check would be to SSH the ESX host, enter command: Esxcli software vib list, and look for the newest version of vib installed from specific vendor.
  1. Remove the ESXI host from N-able inventory if it is present.
  2. Run a Discovery job just for the IP address of the ESXi host with SNMP disabled and VMWARE enabled.
  3. Once discovered, import and enable Professional mode.
  4. Apply the service template.
  • Another possible solution that was previously provided by a partner (NOTE: This is not tested or supported by N-able, and we have confirmed that this will no longer work starting with ESXi 6.7+)
  • As the Dell PERC cards are re-branded LSI RAID Controllers, download the LSI SMIS offline VIB and test on the ESXI host. Once the server is rebooted, you may be able to pull the RAID Controller and Physical Drive information using N-able N-central.

As of 1/2020 the above-referenced VIB provided by LSI is no longer being updated/supported, and Dell has not provided any replacement for it.