@psanida ,
If you want to test with vSphere, why are you not using ONTAP Select which is designed for vSphere?
You can deploy a 90-day evaluation instance of an ONTAP select cluster ranging in size from a single-node up to 99 nodes using an OVF template on VMware ESXi. You can download an evaluation license if you are an existing or new customer. For example, you are an existing customer and you want to try a new configuration before purchasing a license.
You don't need to obtain a serial number or storage capacity license from NetApp.
You can allocate the same amount of storage for user data as a purchased license.
You can't upgrade the node from an evaluation license to a purchased license.
You can only use a vCenter account to deploy the OVF template. Installing directly to an ESXi host is currently not supported.
You must install the OVF template (contained in an ova file) using the vSphere standalone client or vSphere web client (the only option for ESXi 8.0 and later). You don't use the ONTAP Select Deploy administration utility.
Reference: Deploy a 90-day evaluation instance of an ONTAP Select cluster
