I hit this thread while searching for a solution for this exact problem.
We've also used the HPE custom ISO and are facing the same problem on DL325 and DL380 systems (with both MegaRAID and SmartArray controllers).
I've tried the usual "install SMIS provider" workflow, which led to the SFCBD beeing able to start, but this did not solve the issue.
While I haven't used any other custom ISO or upgraded to 8.0 otherwise, I think this issue is with HPE's ISO rather than ESXi8.
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Edit:
I opened a support case with HPE regarding the issue.
The answer I got is a reminder from the HPE engineering team:
Smx-provider package is set to retire from Gen10 servers onward and we are recommending customers to remove the same going further.
There is no additional development/research happening on smx-provider.
Customers could monitor drives from ILO/AMS and One View if configured.
When looking for SMIS providers for LSI cards, the latest download seems to be for vSphere 7.0 ... and they (Broadcom) own vmWare, as far as I remember. So I, personally, don't expect the functionality to be available in the future.
So the answer to "How can I fix it?" probably lies somewhere between "You can't." and "End of support for ESXi 7.0 is in April 2025".
