Local Datastore on ESXi 6.5 question

[chrisnenzel]

I have an older HP Proliant DL360 G7 running ESXi 6.5 that I've obtained some additional discs for, have inserted them into the server, extended the array to 2.6 or so TB but the local datastore is still showing the original 400 or so GB that it originally was.  When I tell the ESXi server to extend the datastore ESXi does not find any free space to do so.

Would appreciate a step by step on how to accomplish this, if possible, without restarting the entire ESXi install from scratch...  This is my home lab and I do not currently have a VCSA deployed in it.

Thanks!

[SupreetK]

Please check the KB VMware Knowledge Base​.

Cheers,

Supreet

[a_p_]

Did you expand the logical volume too, after expanding the RAID in the ACU?

In case you expanded both - RAID, and logical volume - you should see the new size in the vSphere Client's GUI.

If you have only a single logical volume on which you've also installed ESXi, you'll need to follow the steps in the KB that SupreetK​ posted to expand the datastore.

If you want to be able to create a datastore from the GUI, consider creating a second logical volume rather than expanding the existing one.

André

[chrisnenzel]

Thanks.  I believe I did that after the RAID array was completely rebuilt.  the partedUtil output is confusing to me though...

[chrisnenzel]

Here's the view of the datastore and devices in the storage section of ESXi's GUI. 

The datastore shows 410GB free...

The device it's on shows 2.46TB capacity. 

...and a partition diagram of:

[SureshKumarMuth]

what does df -h show ?

[a_p_]

... the partedUtil output is confusing to me though...

That's because you ran the command for a partition, rather than for the device itself. Please run the command again without the partition ("...:1") number.

Also note that with ESXi 4.1, and later use "getptbl" instead of "get".

partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devies/..."


partedUtil getUsableSectors "/vmfs/devies/..."

André

[Ardaneh]

Hi

We had the same problem and the solution for us was to use ESXi URL instead of VC WebClient. so if you are using a VC and your hosts join to a VC, try to extend your DS by using the esxi web url itself.

[chrisnenzel]

Here's the output of partedUtil get and getptlb:

and the output of df -h:

I extended the Array with the BIOS array manager... Is there another step needed to extend the volume?  If so is there an HP ACU utility I can add to ESXi to do this?

This is a stand-alone host... No vCenter... just my lab environment.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

How did you resize the partition, after expanding the RAID/logical volume?

To me it looks like the partition has been expanded, but not the file system itself, i.e. step13 from the KB article is missing!?

André

[chrisnenzel]

Thanks.  That was indeed the missing step!