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vSeanTHereisNoW
Contributor
Contributor

.vmware_ha folder on non-heartbeat datastores

I'm noticing the .vmware_ha folder structure being created on datastores that are not configured as preferred HA heartbeat datastores.

Since this is a test environment I end up adding and removing datastores often. It appears every time I add a datastore it gets this folder. This in turn results in the error "vSphere HA agent on host 'x' failed to quiesce file activity on datastore" message every time I try to dismount the datastore.

Is there a reason this folder is being created on non-perferred datastores? Is there a way to prevent this? What is the correct procedure for removing it so I can cleanly remove my datastore?

Thanks!

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wallbreakr
Contributor
Contributor

Bonjour,

Je suis actuellement absent du bureau avec un accès limité à ma messagerie.

Je serais de retour le 28/06/2013. En cas d'urgence merci de contacter François BLAES (francois.blaes@orange.com)

Cordialement,

Yannig BEYET

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kfarkas
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Regarding the problem of unmounting a datastore, there is a known issue in VC 5.1 that was fixed in VC 5.1U1. In 5.1, in certain circumstances, during the datastore unmount operation, VC is unable to log into the HA agent on the host on which the unmount is being done, and hence the HA agent's use of the datastore cannot be quiesced.

You can determine if you are encountering this issue by searching the VC log files. Find the task corresponding to the unmount request, and see if the follow error message is logged during the task's execution:


2012-09-28T11:24:08.707Z [7F7728EC5700 error 'DAS'] [VpxdDas::SetDatastoreDisabledForHACallback] Failed to disable datastore /vmfs/volumes/505dc9ea-2f199983-764a-001b7858bddc on host [vim.HostSystem:host-30,10.112.28.11]: N3Csi5Fault16NotAuthenticated9ExceptionE(csi.fault.NotAuthenticated)


While we are on the subject, I'll also mention that there is another know issue in VC 5.0 that was fixed in VC5.0U1 (the fix is in VC 5.1 too). This issue related to unmounting a force mounted VMFS datastore. You can determine whether you are hitting this error by again checking the VC log files. If you see an error message such as the following with VC 5.0, then you may be hitting this problem. A work around, like above, is to disable HA while you unmount the datastore.

2011-11-29T07:20:17.108-08:00 [04528 info 'Default' opID=19B77743-00000A40] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR task-396 -- host-384 -- vim.host.StorageSystem.unmountForceMountedVmfsVolume: vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault:

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ddio
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you,  I was contacted by support for the SR referenced above and they recommended VC 5.1U1 also.  I have successfully retested with 5.1U1a

Performed ~ 40 iterations of unmount inactive datastore operations without hitting the error in question.

vCenter Server Version 5.1.0 Build 1123961

Client Version: 5.1.0 Build 1064113

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depping
Leadership
Leadership

ddio wrote:

Thank you,  I was contacted by support for the SR referenced above and they recommended VC 5.1U1 also.  I have successfully retested with 5.1U1a

Performed ~ 40 iterations of unmount inactive datastore operations without hitting the error in question.

vCenter Server Version 5.1.0 Build 1123961

Client Version: 5.1.0 Build 1064113

Thanks for the feedback, just for your info... kfarkas is the lead engineer on vSphere HA... nice right to have passionate and customer caring engineers Smiley Happy

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ddio
Contributor
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It certainly is!  Thank you very much.

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