Creating NVMe-vVols Hosts on the FlashArray

With NVMe vVols, there is a unique NQN that the ESXi host will use when connecting to the storage array. Currently, the only way to get the ESXi host's NQN is with esxcli. There are two ways to get the unique NQN. One way with vSphere 8.0 U1 and then another when vSphere 8.0 U2 and later. Once the NQN's are retrieved then create a new host object on the FlashArray and assign the vVol NQN to the host object.

Using esxcli to list the host vVol NQN

vSphere 8.0 U1 and later

[root@esxi-1:~] /usr/bin/localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int storage internal vvol vasanvmecontext get
VasaNvmeContext:
   Host ID: 52e3d127-0a3d-7217-90f0-7a8201e9a93e
   Host NQN: nqn.2021-01.com.vmware:62e2d72d-8c06-16ca-abf7-0025b5b10b99-vvol-7a8201e9a93e

vSphere 8.0 U2 and later

[root@esxi-1:~] esxcli storage vvol nvme info get
   Host ID: 52e3d127-0a3d-7217-90f0-7a8201e9a93e
   Host NQN: nqn.2021-01.com.vmware:62e2d72d-8c06-16ca-abf7-0025b5b10b99-vvol-7a8201e9a93e

Create FlashArray Host Object with unique NQN

You can create these host objects with the CLI or with the GUI.

With the FA CLI

purehost create --personality esxi --nqnlist nqn.2021-01.com.vmware:62e2d72d-8c06-16ca-abf7-0025b5b10b99-vvol-7a8201e9a93e ESXi-1-nvme-vvols

purehost create --personality esxi --nqnlist nqn.2021-01.com.vmware:5caf7451-fd14-c51c-e2f0-0025b521005d-vvol-155830bed346 ESXi-2-nvme-vvols

Create FlashArray Host Group Object with NVMe-vVols Hosts

In the event that there is an ESXi Cluster that will need to map directly to the ESXi hosts using NVMe-vVols, then create a Host Group for those hosts.

With the FA CLI

purehgroup create --hostlist ESXi-1-nvme-vvols,ESXi-2-nvme-vvols NVMe-vVols-Host-Group-FC

With the FA GUI