ESXi 5.1.0 on Dell PowerEdge T410 - vSphere Configuration Tab Shows Predictive Failure on a Disk

[ITTropolis]

Hi:

I have a Dell PowerEdge T410 running ESXi 5.1.0.  On the vSphere Configuration tab, the sensors are indicating a warning and some array alerts stemming from a drive predictive failure.  See attached screenshot.

How do I troubleshoot this effectively?  I don't think the Dell OpenManage s/w running on a Windows vm on the host will see the host disks and arrays, or will it?  I guess I must connect and configure the DRAC, in which case I'll need to take the server down to cfg. it, ya?

As of now, I don't think I can even blink the drives to tell which bay has the predicted bad drive, unless I reboot into controller, taking the machine offline.

Thanks for any input!

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

There's really not much to troubleshoot here rather than just replace the drive. Predictive failure is a function of the drive's firmware and storage controller, not of ESXi. You should have installed, if you don't already, OpenManage for ESXi, and you can grab that from the respective download page once you select ESXi 5.1. This gets installed directly on ESXi, not a Windows VM. You should also have the iDRAC configured as well. If this is under support, I'd open a case with Dell, tell them you have a predictive failure, and they should replace the drive for you.

[ITTropolis]

Hi @daphnissov

Thanks for the input!  I installed OpenManage for ESXi on the host and was able to determine the physical disk with predictive failure.  I think the easiest way to replace is to use the "Replace Member Disk ..." option in OpenManage and hot-swap the disks, ya?  Do I hot-swap first then Execute that command, or Execute the command while bad disk is still connected, then hot swap?

Thanks!

[daphnissov]

I think you execute the replace member disk first, then remove the disk. Honestly, it's been so long since I've replaced hardware in a Dell server that I can't remember the exact procedure.