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ESXi 5.1.0 disconnects from vSphere client during storage creation

We have a new Dell T420, RAID5, out of the box, with ESXi 5.1.0 already installed, after installing the vSphere Client on my machine, connect and start to create storage, when it is on Current Disk Format, it immediately disconnect the client. Sometimes I can reconnect, sometimes I have restart ESXi. I've changed IPs, as someone mentioned, IP conflict.

Any ideas?

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spravtek
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Sorry, had to delete previous comment, wasn't the correct way to go I think ... Maybe, if following doesn't work.


From: VMware KB: Creating a local VMFS datastore after a fresh installation of ESXi 5.x fails with the err...

Type over ssh: fdisk -u /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492

Then following:

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 36404.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 2

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table
~ #


Then Type following again for confirmation


fdisk -lu

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spravtek
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Are there any previous non-msdos partitions or something configured on the storage?

You might try this KB if you haven't already: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100888...

Did you check the logs for any errors? Depending on the OS VI Client logs could be here:

Windows 7: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\VMware\vpx\Logs

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\VMware\vpx

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ITSO
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That's the problem, I can't see the partition at all, it disconnects as it starts to show the 930GB of space to create your datastores.

Dang, how the heck do you narrow down the log to an error? There's a lot in the log.

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spravtek
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Can you connect through ssh to your ESXi 5.1 host?

Try to connect the log here using a txt file maybe or use something like pastebin.

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spravtek
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There's probably some DELL partitions on those disks, I'm guessing it's local storage yes?

Search the log for errors on something like this: “HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastore- CreateOptions”

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I can SSH, not sure what to do from this point, so I tried to create a store with the client again and got the results. Attached is the log.

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spravtek
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First things first ...

What is your config looking like, I think you have the one ESXi host on the DELL yes? You're connecting your vSphere client directly to the host or are you using vCenter?

Are there any proxy's in use? Firewalls in between the host and the vSphere client? Double check if there's nothing causing connection issues.

How is your host configured, can it use DNS alright?

By the way, what to do after you SSH'ing into your host is mentioned in the link I mentioned earlier, check the storage of the host: VMware KB: Troubleshooting the Add Storage Wizard error: Unable to read partition information from t...

That's one thing though, there's much more you can do, but first we need to see if we can get all the details and get storage configured.

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"What is your config looking like, I think you have the one ESXi host on the DELL yes?"   YES - 1

"You're connecting your vSphere client directly to the host or are you using vCenter?"  client to ESXi. I have configured nothing beyond this point, as I can not create storage.

"Are there any proxy's in use?" NO

"Firewalls in between the host and the vSphere client?" W7 Firewall nothing out of the norm

" Double check if there's nothing causing connection issues." I connect and navigate fine through the rest of the ESXi area, just as soon as I try to create the storage, drops.

Anything in the log file, you see?

How is your host configured, can it use DNS alright? I can ping IPs, haven't tried domains.

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spravtek
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There's plenty in the log regarding errors, nothing concise though ...

I suggest try turning off the Windows firewall just in case for starters.

Also, log in with SSH on your host and type following:

fdisk -l /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492

Then report what it says...

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Results from command you sent......

Turned off Windows Firewall and got the same error or dropped connection.

fdisk -l /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492

***

*** The fdisk command is deprecated: fdisk does not handle GPT partitions.  Please use partedUtil

***

Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492: 999.1 GB, 999116767232 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121469 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

                                                    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492p1               1           5       40131  de Unknown

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492p2   *           6         267     2097152   c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)

Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary

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"Caution: This operation deletes the partition table and master boot record on the disk device. The changes take effect immediately. This results in data loss and cannot be reverted."

There's nothing on the drive but ESXi, so will it still boot to ESXi after the commands you sent?

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a_p_
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Partition type "de" relates to "Dell PowerEdge Server utilities (FAT fs)", so I'd suggest you follow the link provided by and clear the partition table using the dd command line utility.

André

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spravtek
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Sorry, had to delete previous comment, wasn't the correct way to go I think ... Maybe, if following doesn't work.


From: VMware KB: Creating a local VMFS datastore after a fresh installation of ESXi 5.x fails with the err...

Type over ssh: fdisk -u /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492

Then following:

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 36404.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 2

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table
~ #


Then Type following again for confirmation


fdisk -lu

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Results.......

# fdisk -lu

***

*** The fdisk command is deprecated: fdisk does not handle GPT partitions.  Please use partedUtil

***

Disk /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0: 2040 MB, 2040528896 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1946 cylinders, total 3985408 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

                           Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p1            8192     1843199      917504   5 Extended

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p4   *          32        8191        4080  ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p5            8224      520191      255984   6 FAT16

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p6          520224     1032191      255984   6 FAT16

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p7         1032224     1257471      112624  fc VMKcore

/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p8         1257504     1843199      292848   6 FAT16

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/disks/naa.690b11c049b2a600194a4c871a10b492: 999.1 GB, 999116767232 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121469 cylinders, total 1951399936 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

                                           Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System

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spravtek
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Can you create the storage now?

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ITSO
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OK! Good to go!

Now, can you make me understand what broke and what we did that fixed this?

I would have never known how to fix this and you would think, coming from the manufacturer, it would be ready.

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spravtek
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Great,

Sure... The disks that come from DELL had some partitions on it (2 to be exact), this caused a problem when you tried to create storage through the vSphere client because it could not delete those partitions.

Using those commands through the ssh connection you deleted these partitions, making the disk *empty*, so that the vSphere client didn't have any problems anymore creating storage.

DELL probably just puts disks in there they put in all there servers (off the shelf so to speak).

That's the gist of it..

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Spravtek, thanks so much man. I'd had never figured this out.

Hey post the fix on EE, so I can give you credit their ok?

Regards

Harold

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spravtek
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Ok, will do ...

Glad it helped...

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