ONTAP Select Deploy Error on IBM Cloud Bare Metal with KVM

[PedroBotolli]

# ONTAP Select Deploy Error on IBM Cloud Bare Metal with KVM

## Environment

- **Bare Metal:** IBM Cloud (24 cores, 128GB RAM, 1x480GB + 4x7.68TB NVMe)

- **OS:** IBM Red Hat 9.6 Minimal AMD64-6

- **Hypervisor:** KVM

- **Deploy:** ONTAP Select Deploy on separate VSI

- **Host IP:** 10.240.68.8

## Problem

When adding the KVM host to ONTAP Select Deploy, the host appears but shows no information (nodes, CPU, memory, management server). Clicking the host name shows:

```

Error in retrieving information for host "10.240.68.8".

Reason: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'.

```

**API Error:**

```

GET /api/v3/hosts/{uuid}/storage/disks

Response: {"error": {"code": "HostInfoErr", "message": "...NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'."}}

```

## Logs from `/opt/netapp/log/kvmadmin.log`

```

2026-02-20 18:04:41,044|DEBUG |host.py|812:execute_remote_command| Executing command:'lshw -xml -numeric' on host: '10.240.68.8'

2026-02-20 18:04:42,333|ERROR |storage.py|1449:get_pdevice_info| libvirt failed None : 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'

```

The error repeats after Deploy executes `lshw -xml -numeric` via `qemu+ssh://root@10.240.68.8/system?no_tty=1`.

## Host Output (commands execute successfully)

**Block devices:**

```bash

# ls -l /sys/block

nvme0n1 -> ../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0b.0/0000:03:00.0/nvme/nvme0/nvme0n1

nvme1n1 -> ../devices/pci0000:bc/0000:bc:00.5/pci10001:00/10001:00:03.0/10001:02:00.0/nvme/nvme1/nvme1n1

nvme2n1 -> ../devices/pci0000:bc/0000:bc:00.5/pci10001:00/10001:00:05.0/10001:03:00.0/nvme/nvme2/nvme2n1

nvme3n1 -> ../devices/pci0000:bc/0000:bc:00.5/pci10001:00/10001:00:07.0/10001:04:00.0/nvme/nvme3/nvme3n1

nvme4n1 -> ../devices/pci0000:bc/0000:bc:00.5/pci10001:00/10001:00:01.0/10001:01:00.0/nvme/nvme4/nvme4n1

```

**LVM status:**

```bash

# pvs --options pv_name,vg_name,vg_fmt --noheadings --separator :

/dev/nvme1n1:netap_pool:lvm2

```

**Block devices tree:**

```bash

# lsblk --ascii --output name,pkname,mountpoint --noheadings

nvme0n1

|-nvme0n1p1 nvme0n1

|-nvme0n1p2 nvme0n1 /boot/efi

|-nvme0n1p3 nvme0n1 /boot

|-nvme0n1p4 nvme0n1 /

`-nvme0n1p5 nvme0n1

nvme3n1

nvme2n1

nvme1n1

`-netap_pool-ontap_select_meta nvme1n1

nvme4n1

```

## Analysis

- Deploy connects successfully via libvirt

- All commands execute without errors on the host

- The error occurs during XML parsing of `lshw -xml -numeric` output

- Suggests the XML format from RHEL 9.6's `lshw` may differ from what Deploy expects

## Questions

1. Is ONTAP Select Deploy compatible with IBM Red Hat 9.6 Minimal?

2. Are there specific `lshw` or `libvirt` package versions required?

3. Is this a known issue with NVMe devices on IBM Cloud Bare Metal?

4. Any workaround or patch available?

Has anyone successfully deployed ONTAP Select on IBM Cloud Bare Metal with KVM?

[Abeltran]

Hi PedroBotolli,

Has the Baremetal Server AMD processor? I see on the OS AMD version. If it has AMD, is not supported for Ontap Select, only Intel Sandy Bridge or later.

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-select/reference_plan_ots_hardware.html#software-compatibility

Kind regards,

[PedroBotolli]

Hi Abeltran,

Thanks for your reply!

I’ve double-checked the Bare Metal server CPU, and it is Intel, not AMD. Below is the output from lscpu:

Architecture: x86_64
CPU(s): 48
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
Model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6426Y

So the processor is an Intel Xeon, which meets the requirement of Intel Sandy Bridge or later for ONTAP Select.

The OS image name may reference AMD, but the underlying hardware is definitely Intel.

Let me know if you need any additional details.

Best regards,

[elementx]

You didn't provide info about your ONTAP Select version.

About this:

> Response: {"error": {"code": "HostInfoErr", "message": "...NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'."}}

It suggests unexpected response - maybe the h/w is too new or the parser buggy. I'd contact Support with full details of your version and attached output when executed manually.

Generally speaking, RHEL 9.6 KVM is supported, it's just a matter of ONTAP Select version. You can see it in the IMT (imt.netapp.com).

[PedroBotolli]

The ONTAP Select Deploy version is 9.17.1

[elementx]

Okay.

I suspect it's a parsing bug - maybe Support has a patch or workaround. Send them the output of a manually executed script/command that fails to fix it for you.

[PedroBotolli · Accepted solution]

After further investigation with NetApp Support, the issue was identified as a BIOS configuration problem on the bare metal host, not related to the OS, lshw, or libvirt versions.

The host BIOS had the following configuration:

• Intel VT for Directed I/O (VT-d) → Disabled

• Intel Volume Management Device (Intel VMD) → Enabled

This combination prevented ONTAP Select Deploy from properly discovering the NVMe disks on the host. As a result, Deploy failed during host validation and produced the error:

'NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'

This happens because Deploy cannot parse the storage information when the disks are not exposed in the expected way.

Required BIOS Configuration

Changing the BIOS settings resolved the issue:

• Intel VT for Directed I/O (VT-d) → Enabled

• Intel Volume Management Device (Intel VMD) → Disabled

Result

After applying these settings and rebooting the server:

• ONTAP Select Deploy was able to correctly discover the NVMe disks

• Host validation succeeded

• The host information (CPU, memory, storage) populated correctly in the Deploy UI

Conclusion

If you encounter the error:

Error in retrieving information for host
'NoneType' object has no attribute 'text'

while adding a KVM host to ONTAP Select Deploy, check the BIOS configuration, specifically VT-d and Intel VMD settings, as incorrect settings may prevent disk discovery.