ESXi 5.5u2 host won't mount FC datastores

[dangingerich]

I'm the admin in a test lab, so many times I have to "make do" with what I have for hardware.  I recently repurposed a Dell R910 with 64GB of memory into an ESXi 5.5u2 host.  It has some (2.5TB) SAS storage and some (11TB) directly connected FC storage and some FC HBAs for use by VMs to push data to tape libraries. 

Recently, we had a power outage, and this host didn't reconnect to the FC storage when it came back up.  (Having to "make do" with what I have means not having UPS capabilities.)  I can tell the host is seeing the HBA properly, and sees the LUNs on the RAID controllers, but refuses to mount them.  I go through the add storage wizard, and it sees that there is a VMFS datastore on the storage, but still refuses to mount them.  I also tried removing the redirection to the two FC HBAs that were set up for that purpose, but it made no difference. 

I now have three users unable to work because they can't access their VMs on that FC storage.  I can't even transfer them off to use form the SAS storage. 

I'm thinking there might be file system damage causing this, but I'm not sure.  Anyone have any suggestions? 

[Kisan_VMware]

Hi,

You can check below KB

VMware KB: Cannot remount a datastore after an unplanned permanent device loss (PDL)

[dangingerich]

Thanks for that, but it wasn't any help.  The thing they target as being wrong in that article, a VM holding files open on a datastore that disconnected, does not apply to my situation.  There are no VMs running, and I have rebooted the host repeatedly. 

[dangingerich]

I went into the Devices pane of the Storage config page, and it shows the two LUNs mounted, but does not list them in the datastores list. 

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Did you already try to mount the datastores from the command line (see e.g. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011387)?

André

[dangingerich]

That article did help, A.P.  I was able to mount the volumes and move the VMs off, but as soon as the host rebooted, it lost them again.  I was unable to resignature them to get them to mount permanently. 

Since I got the VMs off, I will be able to reformat the datastores and get them running again, then move them back.  Thank you!