While studying for my VCP6-DCA I came across the following sample question:
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An administrator runs the command esxcli storage core device list and sees the following output:
mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0
Display Name: RAID 5 (mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0)
Has Settable Display Name: false
SizE. 40960
Device Type: Direct-Access
Multipath Plugin: NMP Devfs
Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba1:C0:T0:L0
Status: off
Is Local: true
What can be determined by this output?
A. The device is a being used for vFlash Read Cache.
B. The device is in a Permanent Device Loss (PDL) state.
C. The device is a local Solid State Device (SSD).
D. The device is in an All Paths Down (APD) state.
Answer: B. The device is in a Permanent Device Loss (PDL) state.
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The only clue I see about the state of the device is "Status: off". The explanation for this answer includes a reference to https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004684 which is about PDL but does not include a reference to "Status: off", and I found https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004605 which does include a reference to "Status: off" but does not explicitly refer to PDL
1) Is this device in a state of PDL?
2) If yes, is "Status: off" sufficient to make this diagnosis?
3) ... and can local (Is Local: true) and/or direct (Device Type: Direct-Access) devices be in as state of PDL? I realize that this sounds like a dumb question but the KBs seem to be really focused on array devices.
4) Even though KB 2004605 does not explicitly state that the devices are in a state of PDL can this be (safely) assumed?
Thanks.
