What if the SSD and HDD Firmware Versions are Newer Than What is Listed on the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) for Virtual SAN?

No problem, this is OK.

If you want to know more detail, keep reading…

Last week I was working with a customer to implement a VSAN ReadyNode. Before enabling VSAN on a cluster it’s a best practice to validate that the firmware of the host I/O Controller, SSD’s (SAS, SATA, PCIe, NVMe, or UltraDIMM), and HDD’s (SAS, NL-SAS, or SATA) are up to the required versions. Each hardware vendor has a different way of doing this.

In reviewing this particular customers hardware, we found that the SSD and HDD Firmware Versions were newer than what is listed on the VCG.

Note that for SSD’s and HDD’s, the hardware vendors provides the VMware Virtual SAN team with the firmware version they tested and qualified for VSAN. VMware then lists that firmware version for that model of disk on the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG) for Virtual SAN. If the hardware vendor comes out with “new firmware” then it does not require VSAN re-certification of the SSD or HDD. VMware supports disks with “newer firmware” for Virtual SAN but VMware leaves the VCG alone and continues listing the “old firmware”. However, if the hardware vendor wants VMware to remove the “old firmware” from the VCG listing and replace it with the “new firmware” VMware would do that upon their request. This would typically happen if the hardware vendor discovers an issue/bug with the “old firmware”.

I hope this helps clarify how VMware treats SSD and HDD Firmware Version listings on the VMware Compatibility Guide for Virtual SAN.