We usually don’t have minor point releases with VSI but there was some delay with support for VVols on the Unity platform which necessitated this second VSI release in June. Fortunately at the same time we were able to fix an issue with VMAX3/VMAX All Flash connectivity to the SMI-S Provider. As I mentioned in the last post on VSI 6.9, the 8.2 SMI-S Provider presents a challenge because it only listens on port 5989 while VSI is hard-coded to port 5988. There is a workaround to this I covered in the blog post, but ideally we want customers to have the flexibility to choose their own port and security (HTTP, HTTPS). VSI 6.9.2 does exactly this, changing the screen where new VMAX3/VMAX All Flash storage systems are added.
The steps to add a new VMAX array have not changed, however. Navigate in the vSphere Web Client to: Home > vCenter Inventory Lists > EMC VSI > Storage Systems and select Register Storage System.
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In the next screen select VMAX from the Storage system type.
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In the VMAX registration screen that follows there are two new changes. The first is a drop-down box to select the security level – HTTP or HTTPS. The second change is a new field allowing the port to be modified. Note that the screen will default to HTTP and 5988.
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Using the drop-down box select the desired protocol, type in the port, and supply the SMI-S Provider IP/hostname. Now hit Retrieve Arrays to display all VMAX3/VMAX All Flash that the SMI-S Provider discovered.
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At this point you probably noticed I have failed to mention the VMAX2 platform, and for good reason. This VSI release marks the end of support for the VMAX2 (and vVNX). I will note that the end of support is not simply semantics as we block any VMAX2 array from showing in the list of available storage arrays, even if the SMI-S Provider sees it.
So a simple change solves the issue of the 8.2 SMI-S Provider. Note that this also means you can now use eManagement (eMGMT – embedded management) container/guestos which only uses HTTPS and port 5989. A final caveat that if you are using the 8.2 vApp for SE or Unisphere and want to use a port other than 5989, you will need to open the selected port since it will be blocked otherwise.
You can find the new software and documentation on the VSI product page.
Dell PowerFlex and PowerMax with VMware 
Which VSI version still supports VMAX2? Can I use VSI 6.9 with VMAX2 if I use SMI-S 4.6.x? Thanks.
6.9 is the last version to support VMAX2 but the SMI-S Provider must be 8.2. If you want to use SMI-S 4.6.x you would have to go back to VSI 6.4.
Thank you. Just to clarify, 6.9 does support VMAX2, but 6.9.2 does not?
Correct 6.9.2 was the version we deprecated VMAX2.