VMware ESXi : How To Map VMHBA (Or Any VMware Device Alias) To A Specific PCI Slot

Asset ID:	1-71-2277391.1
Update Date:	2017-06-21
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 2277391.1 : VMware ESXi : How To Map VMHBA (Or Any VMware Device Alias) To A Specific PCI Slot

Applies to:

Oracle Server X5-2L - Version All Versions to All Versions [Release All Releases]
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

How to determine which HBA PCI slot to replace when a fault is reported in VMware ESXi:

Example: The logs below point to vmhba2 as possibly faulty:

2017-06-02T00:00:00.559Z cpu51:33212)ScsiPath: 4429: Command 0xa3 (cmdSN 0x0, World 0) to path vmhba2:C0:T1:L4 timed out: expiry time occurs 4614ms in the past
2017-06-02T00:00:00.559Z cpu51:33212)VMW_SATP_ALUA: satp_alua_issueCommandOnPath:656: Path "vmhba2:C0:T1:L4" (UP) command 0xa3 failed with status Timeout. H:0x3 D:0x0 P:0x0 Possible sense data: 0x0 0x0 0x0.
2017-06-02T00:00:01.357Z cpu67:33208)ScsiPath: 4429: Command 0xa3 (cmdSN 0x0, World 0) to path vmhba2:C0:T3:L7 timed out: expiry time occurs 3006ms in the past
2017-06-02T00:00:01.357Z cpu67:33208)VMW_SATP_ALUA: satp_alua_issueCommandOnPath:656: Path "vmhba2:C0:T3:L7" (UP) command 0xa3 failed with status Timeout. H:0x3 D:0x0 P:0x0 Possible sense data: 0x0 0x0 0x0.
2017-06-02T00:00:02.761Z cpu59:33214)ScsiPath: 4429: Command 0xa3 (cmdSN 0x0, World 0) to path vmhba2:C0:T1:L9 timed out: expiry time occurs 3607ms in the past

To be able to replace this HBA, we need to find out which PCI slot this is installed in the X5-2L server

Solution

This command maps the VMware vm-device alias names (i.e. vmhbaN, vmnicN, and vmgfxN) to their specific physical PCI slots in the server:

[root@esx3:~] localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int/deviceInternal alias list

Bus type Bus address Alias
-----------------------------------
pci m00008501 vmnic0
pci s00000005.01 vmhba4
pci m00008503 vmnic2
pci m00008504 vmnic3
pci s00000004.00 vmhba1
pci m00008502 vmnic1
pci s00000005.00 vmhba3
pci s00000006.00 vmhba5
pci s00000004.01 vmhba2
pci s00000003.01 vmnic7
pci s00000002.01 vmnic5
pci s00000003.00 vmnic6
pci s00000002.00 vmnic4
pci p0000:00:1f.2 vmhba0
logical pci#s00000005.01#1 vmhba4
logical pci#s00000004.01#1 vmhba2
logical pci#s00000006.00#0 vmhba5
logical pci#s00000004.00#0 vmhba1
logical pci#s00000005.00#0 vmhba3
[root@esx3:~

From the above output, we can tell that vmhba1(port 0) and vmhba2 (port 1) are from the same dual-ported QLogic HBA (7101674) installed in PCI slot 4:

pci s00000004.00 vmhba1 <-------PCI slot 4 port 0
pci s00000004.01 vmhba2<------- PCI slot 4 port 1

These lines provide the same information:

logical pci#s00000004.01#1 vmhba2
logical pci#s00000004.00#0 vmhba1

Following this logic, you can map all the PCI slots from the output above to
the corresponding PCI slots in the output below:

From the X5-2L <ILOM-snapshot-dir>/ilom/@usr@local@bin@collect_properties.out

(search for "Add-on")

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on
Properties:

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on/Device_2
Properties:
part_number = X1109A-Z
description = Sun Dual 10GbE SFP+ PCIe 2.0 Low Profile Adapter
location = PCIE2 (PCIe Slot 2)
pci_vendor_id = 0x8086
pci_device_id = 0x10fb
pci_subvendor_id = 0x108e
pci_subdevice_id = 0x7b11

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on/Device_3
Properties:
part_number = X1109A-Z
description = Sun Dual 10GbE SFP+ PCIe 2.0 Low Profile Adapter
location = PCIE3 (PCIe Slot 3)
pci_vendor_id = 0x8086
pci_device_id = 0x10fb
pci_subvendor_id = 0x108e
pci_subdevice_id = 0x7b11

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on/Device_4
Properties:
part_number = 7101674
description = Sun Storage 16 Gb Fibre Channel PCIe Universal FC HBA, Qlogic
location = PCIE4 (PCIe Slot 4) <--------------------------
pci_vendor_id = 0x1077
pci_device_id = 0x2031
pci_subvendor_id = 0x1077
pci_subdevice_id = 0x024d

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on/Device_5
Properties:
part_number = 7101674
description = Sun Storage 16 Gb Fibre Channel PCIe Universal FC HBA, Qlogic
location = PCIE5 (PCIe Slot 5)
pci_vendor_id = 0x1077
pci_device_id = 0x2031
pci_subvendor_id = 0x1077
pci_subdevice_id = 0x024d

/System/PCI_Devices/Add-on/Device_6
Properties:
part_number = 7110117
description = Oracle Storage 12 Gb SAS PCIe RAID HBA, Internal
location = PCIE6 (PCIe Slot 6)
pci_vendor_id = 0x1000
pci_device_id = 0x005d
pci_subvendor_id = 0x1000
pci_subdevice_id = 0x9361

Further details:

How VMware ESXi determines the order in which names are assigned to devices (2091560)

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