Can't increase Datastore capacity VMFS 5.54

[Freez3]

Hi,

I added more Disks to my raid set 10 expanded the logical volume,

size is available and can be seen by esxi,  but cannot select lun to expand the datastore.

see screenshot

Could it be that increase size is not possible,

when datastore is on the same logical disk as the esx system?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

Freez3

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Increasing the local datastore on the installation disk is not possible through the GUI and might not be supported. At http://deinoscloud.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/how-to-increase-the-size-of-a-local-datastore-on-an-esxi... you can find a walkthrough on how to grow the local datastore on ESXi 4.x With ESXi 5.0 you will need to use "partedUtil resize ..." instead of fdisk (delete an recreate the partition) to modify the partition size though.

For how to use partedUtil, see e.g. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1036609

If you are unsure, please post the output of

partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/<DeviceName>"

André

[Freez3]

Hi,

thanks for your answere.

This finaly means that I have to do a resize,

what means rebuild the Datastore and lose all the data on it, right?

Cheers

Freez3

[a_p_]

... and lose all the data on it, right?

No, the steps in the article describe how to resize/grow the VMFS datastore without loosing data. However, I'd recommend you backup the VM's in case something does not work as expected.

André

[Freez3]

Hi again,

this is the output

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"
gpt
53535 255 63 860050224
1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128
5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0
8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
3 10229760 573367566 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # partedUtil get "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"
53535 255 63 860050224
1 64 8191 0 128
5 8224 520191 0 0
6 520224 1032191 0 0
7 1032224 1257471 0 0
8 1257504 1843199 0 0
2 1843200 10229759 0 0
3 10229760 573367566 0 0

I think the resize command should look like this

     partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860050224

but I'm not sure with the new ending sector.

After the resize will be done, do had to do something further?

Thanks for your help

Cheers

Freez3

[a_p_]

The end sector for the resize command should be "numsectors minus 1" (see e.g. Step 7 at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2002461)

After resizing the partition you will need to grow the VMFS datastore using the "vmkfstools --grow ..." command as shown in the KB as well as in the walkthrough I linked to before.

Again, I didn't try this myself yet, so please backup any data before doing this!

André

[Freez3]

Hi,

Yes, I have a backup 😉

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 573367566 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860050223

Error: Unable to satisfy all constraints on the partition.

Error: Can't have overlapping partitions.

Disk set partition failed

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 573367566 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

tried to reboot, but it still not works,

I cannot find my fail in here?

Cheers

Freez3

[Freez3]

Hi again,

this time it works with steps, but can't see the difference in it?

have a look:

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 573367566 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 573367569

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 573367569 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 673367569

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 773367569

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 773367569 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860040224

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860050124

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860040214

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860040220

~ # partedUtil resize "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0" 3 10229760 860040223

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 860040223 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ # vmkfstools --growfs "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0:3" "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0:3"

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0"

gpt

53535 255 63 860050224

1 64 8191 C12A7328F81F11D2BA4B00A0C93EC93B systemPartition 128

5 8224 520191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

6 520224 1032191 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

7 1032224 1257471 9D27538040AD11DBBF97000C2911D1B8 vmkDiagnostic 0

8 1257504 1843199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

2 1843200 10229759 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0

3 10229760 860040223 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0

~ #

Thank you very much, it finaly works without any issue as the Walkthrow was telling!

Cheers

Freez3

[a_p_]

Well, Bits&Bytes sometimes have their own lives

Glad you got it solved and thanks for the feedback.

André

[Freez3]

Thank you so much,

you helped me to save so many time 😉

Cheers

Freez3

[mfreeoff]

Great directions.  Worked for me running ESXI 5.

I had to expend it little by little (just like above) until I used up all the free space, otherwise I got the same error.

Mike

[LunThrasher]

hi, I came across your post today and just wanted to add in some additional notes that will hopefully come in usefull.

Within vCenter I was not able to extend the LUN, even though I could see the additional space available.

The work around, was to use the vSphere client to connect directly to a host, login, go to storage, and increase the datastore from there.

[Moggyman]

Nope - the Gods obviously hate me today as this didn't work for me. If only!

[Freez3]

The problem which is discussed in this thread came's along with

having the ESXi Installation and the Datastore on the same physical or logical Disk.

In this special situation it is not possible to expand the Data Store

in the VSphere GUI if Client or Server doesn't matter.

[cassioac]

This post is great, I've successfully resized my partition.

The problem I'm having is that when I try to run the vmkfstool --growfs I get the following error:

/dev/disks # vmkfstools --growfs naa.6842b2b0733a240017ae04480a2dc37d\:3 /dev/disks/naa.6842b2b0733a240017ae04480a2dc37d\:3

Not found

Error: No such file or directory

/dev/disks # vmkfstools --growfs /dev/disks/naa.6842b2b0733a240017ae04480a2dc37d\:3 /dev/disks/naa.6842b2b0733a240017ae04480a2dc37d\:3

Not found

Error: No such file or directory

I've triple checked it and the partiton filename is correct. Anyone also got this issue?

[Freez3]

try full path after the command

vmkfstools --growfs vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba3\:C0\:T0\:L0\:3 vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba3\:C0\:T0\:L0\:3

[Stevewaha69]

Perfect, Thanks. This worked perfectly for me.

I could not resize the disk through Virtual Center even though I could see the space there. Once I connected the vSphere Client straight to the host it worked perfectly.

Cheers