ME4 Series and support for ESXI 8.0

Question

Hello, Will the ME4 series every support esxi 8.0?  I don't see it listed as a supported environment.

Metzge · Accepted Answer

No not with the ME4. We did get a definite answer back from Dell rep. Quote, "

ESX8 has not been tested/validated/supported on ME40xx arrays. You can still use VMware 8, but it will fall under conditional support. There is no known issues currently, but we cannot in a Supported way say it will be okay with no issues. The ME50xx do however, support VMware 8."

We are in the process of buying ME5s. I know kind of a waste, but we can't afford not to have it supported.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

In terms of OS support capability, ME4 can only support up to VMware vSphere 7.0 U3. The VMware vCenter Plug-in is the management plug in, which is different from OS access controls, eg: iSCSI software initiators. The plugin is an intergrated tool to monitor and manage a Dell PowerVault ME Series storage system.

Ref: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/powervault-me5012/me_series_vsphere_ug/getting-started-with-the-me-series-vmware-vsphere-plug-in?guid=guid-e3735852-7945-454e-a054-05b15843ad77&lang=en-us

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Marquee16,

ESXi8 is not officially supported with ME40xx storage. If you decide to use it anyway, you will fall under the "Level 2: Conditional Support" of Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Support Matrix. There are no KNOWN issues with ME40xx and ESXi8, but if there were we would not have the full engagement to check for issues between the OS and the storage.

The plugin is handled in the same way, but it is much more restrictive in how it works as it has to integrate with the OS directly. If you have issues with the plugin that are not handled in the Dell PowerVault ME Series VMware vSphere Plug-in User's Guide, there is not much we can do as it only covers the supported plugin for the ME40xx.

The link mentioned previously for 1.3.0.17 incorrectly lists ME4 support. In these instances, always go off of the Support Matrix listed above.

Let me know if this helps.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

Based on the support matrix, it is not supported. I mostly refer to user guides for references to provide answers to the users here. I will leave this post for the public opinion to provide if it will support 8.0.

https://dell.to/3xF1hpQ

Metzge · Answer

@DELL-Joey C​  Thanks, yes, I saw that too.  I guess what I'm asking is why isn't it supported?  The ME4 series End of Standard Support isn't until July 29, 2029.  ESXI 7.0 goes end of support on April 2, 2025.  For VMWare enterprise customers this makes the ME4 obsolete.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi,

You have a point, I am unsure if there is a reason that ME4 only supports up to 7.0. I tried checking on VMWare's support site, and ME4 is listed supported 8.0, but Dell EMC ME4 Series vSphere Client Plug-in support 7.0.

But if you need more in depth if ME4 fully support ESXi 8.0, I might suggest raising a support case to check with engineering if there is any future releases.

Metzge · Answer

Just a follow up for everyone else. I did call support and asked about VMWare 8.0 as a supported OS. They didn't know for sure but thought it's probably coming. Which led to will I have support if I go to 8.0 if I call in with an issue. They said yes to a point. So, I think going to 8.0 would be ok, but nothing absolutely concrete.

I did notice that the ME5xxx also doesn't have 8.0 as a supported OS. I did check on VMWare's Hardware Compatibility Matrix and the ME4xxx are supported on 8.0 from a VMWare perspective.

7.0 Eos is rapidly approaching so hopefully Dell officially comes out and supports 8.0 before then.

chamilasw · Answer

Hi  Have you successfully connected the Dell ME4 Storage Array to VMware 8?

Metzge · Answer

We ended up pushing the upgrade out but will be doing it shortly.  I'd like to know too if anyone out there is running VMWare 8.  Anyone?  Anyone?

Metzge · Answer

Still trying to get a definitive answer on this. Strange that Dell doesn't add it to the list of supported OSes. I do see that they released the VMware vCenter Plug-in for Dell PowerVault ME Series Storage Arrays (Web Client) to support 8.0.

VMware vCenter Plug-in for Dell PowerVault ME Series Storage Arrays (Web Client) | Driver Details | Dell US

So, it would lend me to believe the VMWare 8 is supported OS.

Everytime time I talk to support each engineer has a different take on it.

hgraylin · Answer

@Metzge​ Did you ever upgrade? I saw that the 'accepted answer' on here is that ME4 doesn't support esxi 8, but was curious if you ever went through with it.

Marquee16 · Answer

I am currently trying to get the 1.3.0.17 plugin installed on my vCSA (8.03u) it's been...a treat.

I had been struggling to push the 1.2.1.26 plugin and it would fail at the java applet start. Not a big deal but that means it also wouldn't show up in the MOB and it won't uninstall so I did my best to strip it out manually. Once I read down to @Metzge 's post I realized I was barking up the wrong tree and performed the java update and tried to install the new version.

I had\have the same issue during the install which may or may not be related to the failed install for the older plug-in where the java fails during the install. "Unable to start java application. Please try again."

So just a word of warning, I didn't notice for a bit that my vCSA VM was spiking it's CPU usage. After the install the service initially looks like it's running. However it's not, it's tail spun into an exponential start and stop cycle jumping the CPU from 20 to 110% usage. I didn't catch it until I checked the status of the service in the console and saw it had restarted some 800 times since starting.

What I didn't notice until this morning was this first gem that showed up during the install stating the the 'vcplugin group' is invalid. I see that command in the SH file on line 53 and I'm wondering if that's related to the larger issue I'm having.

Installation output for V1.3.0.17

"chown: invalid group: 'vcplugin:vcplugin'

Installation is in progress...
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Xms32M -Xmx128M -Dcom.sun.org.apache.xml.inter nal.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true -Dorg.apache.xml.security.ignoreLineBreak s=true

Checking port may take 1-2 minutes...
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Xms32M -Xmx128M -Dcom.sun.org.apache.xml.inter nal.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true -Dorg.apache.xml.security.ignoreLineBreak s=true
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Xms32M -Xmx128M -Dcom.sun.org.apache.xml.inter nal.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true -Dorg.apache.xml.security.ignoreLineBreak s=true
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Xms32M -Xmx128M -Dcom.sun.org.apache.xml.inter nal.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true -Dorg.apache.xml.security.ignoreLineBreak s=true
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Xms32M -Xmx128M -Dcom.sun.org.apache.xml.internal.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true -Dorg.apache.xml.security.ignoreLineBreaks=true
Creating storage plugin service...
Storage plugin service created.
Unable to start java application. Please try again."

It obviously can't run the way it is, I'm going to spin up an isolated vCSA and see if I can replicate this on a clean instance. If anyone else has had a similar issue and found a way around please let me know.

PowerVault

ME4 Series and support for ESXI 8.0

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