Today I logged into vSphere and this notification came up.
Lost connectivity to the device mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0 backing the boot filesystem /vmfs/devices/disk/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0. As a result, host configuration changes will not be saved to persistent storage.
And in the event log as well:
Bootbank cannot be found at path '/bootbank'
I did some research and it suggested that my USB drive (on which the ESXi was installed) had failed. Yes I know there are a gazillion of posts on this issue but I believe mine is a bit different:
So, I did not quite believe my USB drive died so fast (not even 1.5 years and I am not a heavy user), so I pulled it out and put it into my computer, and 3 partitions came up, the USB drive was successfully recognized.
Then I put the USB drive back, SSH into the ESXi and "lsusb", my USB drive showed up as "Bus 02 Device 0b: ID 0781:5580 SanDisk Corp. SDCZ80 Flash Drive".
Now, if I am to play it safely, my best bet would be to replace that USB drive. However, I am not sure if my USB drive has actually failed?
Update: It does show "Input/output error" when I try to navigate into /bootbank in SSH.
/vmfs/volumes # ls
ls: ./79a964e1-88c0598a-7b89-b1a18986d360: Input/output error
ls: ./28b21ce3-3914b9a5-1fea-afb54459361e: Input/output error
ls: ./54b1487c-dce8d390-11e2-0cc47a455f8e: Input/output error
I am still a bit skeptical about whether my USB drive has actually failed. I am going to install ESXi on another USB drive and try it.
