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ESXi 5.5 stability or performance issues when using PERC 9 on PowerEdge Servers

Summary: This article provide a solution for performance issues in ESCi 5.5 on 13th generation of Dell PowerEdge servers. Issues might be caused by an outdated driver provided with the OS, which must be updated. ...

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Symptoms

When installing VMwareESXi 5.5 on your system this will typically come with the lsi_mr3 PERC driver, which is not fully compatible with the PERC 9 installed in the 13th generation PowerEdge servers and can cause stability and/or performance issues.

To resolve this, you will need to download and install the appropriate PERC driver, megaraid_perc9, from the VMware website.
Note: if you are not familiar with how to install drivers in ESXi, VMware has a good article explaining the steps to do this.


After downloading and installing the appropriate drivers, you will need to disable the old driver and verify the storage adaptor (PERC) is using the correct driver:
 

  1. Disable the "lsi-mr3" module/drive by executing the following command:# esxcli system module set --enabled=false --module=lsi_mr3

  2. Reboot the system

  3. Verify the storage adapter is using the correct driver by executing the following command:
    # esxcli storage core adapter list

  4. You should see your controller utilizing the "megaraid_perc9" driver and NOT the "lsi_mr3" driver.
    HBA Name  Driver          Link State  UID             Description
    --------  --------------  ----------  --------------  ------------------------------------------------------
    vmhba2    megaraid_perc9  link-n/a    unknown.vmhba2  (0:3:0.0) LSI / Symbios Logic Dell PERC H730 Adapter

Cause

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Resolution

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Affected Products

PowerEdge M630, PowerEdge M630 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge R430, PowerEdge R530, PowerEdge R630, PowerEdge R730, PowerEdge R730xd, PowerEdge R930, PowerEdge T430, PowerEdge T630, VMware ESXi 5.x