VMware 相容性認證豆知識

VMware的相容性清單VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) 或稱 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) 的認證精神如下

1. 由第三方廠商加入VMware技術夥伴計畫
2. 由第三方廠商實驗室執行驗證程式，取得驗證結果Log
3. 由第三方廠商提交認證申請，上傳驗證結果Log
4. VMware驗證Log，給予認證，列於官方清單中

簡單來說，所有的相容性硬體可以分為兩類

• 主機外面的，如共用儲存：一般僅驗證相容性，於上傳的時候廠商會填寫該設備的基本訊息，如品牌/型號/firmware版本/驗證環境資訊以及驗證項目清單(可見文末[驗證項目清單範例])
• 主機裡面的，如網路卡/HBA/RDMA裝置：由於硬體安裝於主機內，需要Driver來驅動，所以有時候驗證相容性之外，還會驗證Driver，並由VMware提供下載連結，舉例來說下面是一個Dell H730P RAID卡的相容性列表，裡面就有一個獨立的Driver下載連結

了解了以上資訊後，常常發現的一些問題是

查詢共用儲存時，通過認證的Firmware版本在該廠商的網站中找不到，或是該版本比實際機器上安裝的還要舊：

會發生這情況有可能是廠商為了產品出貨時已經通過驗證，所以在開發過程中以接近出貨的版本驗證，而實際出貨時，使用了更新的Firmware造成，但由於該資訊是手動於提交認證申請時填寫，也不排除人為寫錯的可能

技術上來說，VMware要求對Firmware的大改版需要重新提交認證申請，但是小改版沒有強制要求，不同共用儲存的Firmware版本對相容性是否有影響，最嚴謹的作法是請儲存廠商確認(比方說如果兩個不同版本的Firmware修正的部份與VMware相容性無關，那技術上就應該仍為相容)

查詢RAID相容清單時，發現同一張卡片通過多次相容性測試但Driver不同：

比方說Dell H730P RAID在vSphere 6.5就有兩筆認證通過時使用以下兩個不同的Driver
lsi-mr3 version 6.910.20.00-1OEM
lsi_mr3 version 6.910.18.00-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106

會出現這樣的狀況原因是LSI的這張卡片的驅動(版本為6.910.18)其實原本就內建於vSphere的ISO中(可由此網站查詢不同版本的vSphere Build到底包含哪些驅動程式 https://esxi-patches.v-front.de/vm-6.5.0.html)，但如上述，Dell同時也提交了該卡片的Driver認證申請(版本為6.910.20)，在兩次驗證該卡片時，測試環境一次使用內建驅動，另一次安裝了額外驗證過的Driver版本導致，以技術上來說，兩個驅動應該都是可用且穩定的

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[網卡/RAID卡驗證詳細說明]
https://vdc-download.vmware.com/vmwb-repository/dcr-public/f510b12f-6648-44b6-b710-7a61ab1c833c/1856bbae-dedb-4444-8aed-19510e359cca/IO%20Vendor%20Program%20Guide%20v3.11.pdf

[驗證項目清單範例]

Virtual_Machine_Data_Integrity previously passed

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Vmotion previously passed

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NFSClient_Remove_Uplink_Failover not applicable

NFSClient_NFSMount_Unmount not applicable

SVD_Backend_Switch_Port_Disable_Enable not applicable

SVD_Backend_SP_Reset_Stress not applicable

SVD_Backend_SP_NDU not applicable

VM_Boot_Storm previously passed

ESX_Reboot not applicable

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SCSI2_Reserve_Trespass not applicable

SCSI3PR_Multipath_Clear_Fixed not applicable

SCSI3PR_Multipath_Clear_MRU not applicable

SCSI3PR_Multipath_Clear_RR not applicable

SCSI3PR_Multipath_Preempt_Fixed	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Preempt_MRU	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Preempt_RR	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Register_Fixed	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Register_MRU	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Register_RR	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Release_Fixed	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Release_MRU	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Release_RR	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Reserve_Fixed	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Reserve_MRU	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Multipath_Reserve_RR	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Reservation_Power_Cycle	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Successful_Challenge_ptRDM	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Successful_Defence_ptRDM	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Benign_Cluster_Failover_ptRDM	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Benign_Cluster_Failover_ptRDM_failover	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Failover_HBA	not applicable
SCSI3PR_Failover_SP	not applicable
Collect Storage Information	previously passed