Right,
normally we should be able to install plugin from netapp for NFS VAAI support using the VSC console. I managed to do it for some hosts, then i started to update my hosts to latest build and from this moment i could no longer install the nfs vaai plugin for hosts using vsc. All hosts were updated to VMware ESXi 5.0.0 build-914586. Update manager could not help, vsc could not help… What helped :
1) download from netapp website the zip bundle
2) put it directly to host for example
3) using esxcli install it, so ssh to your esxi host
cd /vmfs/volumes/your_datastore_where_the_zip_is
/vmfs/volumes/2d1303c2-270be8c4 # esxcli software vib install -d file://$PWD/NetAppNasPlugin.v18.zip
Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: NetApp_bootbank_NetAppNasPlugin_1.0-018
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
4) Reboot host
5) Let’s party !!! vaai is now [ON] 🙂
You can then check if everything is correct
1) esxcli software vib list -> check for netapp part
2) vmkfstools -Ph /vmfs/volumes/your_datastore -> check for : “NAS VAAI Supported: YES”
3) check in vSphere client -> configuration/storage if this datastore has now Supported value in Hardware acceleration
4) After installation you should see file in here on your esxi host:
/altbootbank/NetAppNa.v00
After host reboot you should see file in here on your esxi host:
/bootbank/NetAppNa.v00
When troubleshooting plugin installation using netapp vsc, you can check log : /var/log/esxupdate.log to see why in your case it is not installing it correctly