I'm setting up a new vSphere 6.5 cluster and starting to provision my first machines. I've set up a template for future guests, which uses EFI instead of BIOS. Upon rebooting the guests, they fail to start properly.
The issue is identical to this one I found on the KB: https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=21461...
I have followed the steps and set my configuration accordingly. Here is the output from esxcli storage core path list:
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3-00023d000003,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3-naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
UID: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3-00023d000003,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3-naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
Runtime Name: vmhba64:C0:T0:L10
Device: naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
Device Display Name: LEFTHAND iSCSI Disk (naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0)
Adapter: vmhba64
Channel: 0
Target: 0
LUN: 10
Plugin: NMP
State: active
Transport: iscsi
Adapter Identifier: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3
Target Identifier: 00023d000003,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3
Adapter Transport Details: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3
Target Transport Details: IQN=iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl Alias= Session=00023d000003 PortalTag=3
Maximum IO Size: 131072
iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3-00023d000004,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3-naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
UID: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3-00023d000004,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3-naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
Runtime Name: vmhba64:C1:T0:L10
Device: naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0
Device Display Name: LEFTHAND iSCSI Disk (naa.6000eb3b01323a960000000000001bf0)
Adapter: vmhba64
Channel: 1
Target: 0
LUN: 10
Plugin: NMP
State: active
Transport: iscsi
Adapter Identifier: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3
Target Identifier: 00023d000004,iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl,t,3
Adapter Transport Details: iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:esx-mk1-58d288d3
Target Transport Details: IQN=iqn.2015-11.com.hpe:storevirtual.rpl Alias= Session=00023d000004 PortalTag=3
Maximum IO Size: 131072
As per the article, I have taken the maximum IO size of 131072 (bytes) and set the 'Disk.DiskMaxIOSize' setting on each of my hosts to 128 (kilobytes). Output of esxcli system settings advanced list -o "/Disk/DiskMaxIOSize" | grep Int\ Value | grep -v Default'
Int Value: 128
Here's a snippet of vmware.log for a guest that fails to start:
2017-02-14T15:15:16.849Z| vcpu-0| I125: Guest: About to do EFI boot: Windows Boot Manager
2017-02-14T15:15:16.886Z| vcpu-0| I125: HBACommon: First write on scsi0:0.fileName='/vmfs/volumes/58986c57-beebfb62-20dc-941882e61b50/dc-mk1/dc-mk1.vmdk'
2017-02-14T15:15:16.886Z| vcpu-0| I125: DDB: "longContentID" = "9183ad927c82a0f735b6ad050dce9686" (was "b8e64cc6686f60edd799a37495b96386")
2017-02-14T15:15:16.939Z| vcpu-0| I125: DISKLIB-CHAIN : DiskChainUpdateContentID: old=0x95b96386, new=0xdce9686 (9183ad927c82a0f735b6ad050dce9686)
2017-02-14T15:15:20.002Z| vmx| I130: Vigor_ClientRequestCb: dispatching Vigor command 'Ethernet.queryFields'
2017-02-14T15:15:38.459Z| vcpu-0| I125: Tools: Tools heartbeat timeout.
There is a consistent 22 seconds between "about to do EFI boot" and "tools heartbeat timeout" when the guest fails to start.
I'm keen to resolve this ASAP so I can commission my new hardware in earnest - any ideas?
