[smartmontools-support] vmware esxi nvme not working

[Christian Franke]

Alexander Liuckanov wrote:
> Under vmware esxi when try to access NVMe device the smartctl return an error
>
> [root at esxi:/tmp] ./smartctl -d nvme  -x /dev/disks/t10.NVMe____SAMSUNG_MZWLL800HEHP2D00003______________460BB081E5382500
> smartctl 7.1 2019-07-01 r4934 [x86_64-linux-6.7.0] (CircleCI)
> Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
>
> Read NVMe Identify Controller failed: NVME_IOCTL_ADMIN_CMD: Function not implemented

This means that ESXi NVMe driver does not implement the same 
pass-through functionality as the Linux NVMe driver.


> The build in smart status in vmware work ok with NVMe but it not return the raw value and it is useless in this variant
>
>
> [root at nod31:/tmp] esxcli storage core device smart get -d t10.NVMe____SAMSUNG_MZWLL800HEHP2D00003______________460BB081E5382500
> Parameter                     Value  Threshold  Worst
> ----------------------------  -----  ---------  -----
> Health Status                 OK     N/A        N/A
> Media Wearout Indicator       N/A    N/A        N/A
> Write Error Count             N/A    N/A        N/A
> Read Error Count              N/A    N/A        N/A
> Power-on Hours                2330   N/A        N/A
> Power Cycle Count             14     N/A        N/A
> Reallocated Sector Count      0      90         N/A
> Raw Read Error Rate           N/A    N/A        N/A
> Drive Temperature             36     78         N/A
> ...

This output suggests that the tool or the underlying I/O-control maps 
NVMe SMART/Health Information to ATA SMART Data. If done by the 
I/O-control, it might be impossible to read the raw values.


> Can you suggest solution for this error under vmware esxi?

Sorry no. Even if ESXi actually provides is a NVMe pass-through 
I/O-control, documentation or sample source code would be required.

Regards,
Christian

PS: We have a similar issue with '-d megaraid', see:
https://www.smartmontools.org/ticket/800