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jmay
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Lost access to volume

I just put up a Promise Vtrak connected to an ESXi 5.5 VMware host.  I have it configured exactly the same as my other Vtrak - ALUA enabled, controller affinity, direct connect Fibre Channel connection, same cables, adapters, etc.

VMware is constantly reporting the following errors when running a VM off the Vtrak:

Successfully restored access to volume 543c5a71-

3aa8c78b-0c06-002436f32fb8 (Esxi4) following

connectivity issues.

info

10/23/2014 12:21:32 PM

Lost access to volume 543c5a71-3aa8c78b-0c06-

002436f32fb8 (Esxi4) due to connectivity issues.

Recovery attempt is in progress and outcome will

be reported shortly.

info

10/23/2014 12:21:29 PM

these are happening every 30 seconds or so.

Any idea on why this would be occurring?  I am using the latest Vtrak firmware and VMware ESXi updates.  I've tried everything - different cables, ESXi servers, etc, etc.  Please help - thanks!

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vuzzini
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello jmay,

Promise Technology, Inc Vtrak storage array series is not supported to run ESXi 5.5 (Please check VMware HCL VMware Compatibility Guide: Storage/SAN Search ) The messages "Lost access to volume 543c5a71-3aa8c78b-0c06-

002436f32fb8 (Esxi4) due to connectivity issues. Recovery attempt is in progress and outcome will be reported shortly" can occur if HBA drivers/nic drivers are not updated. Again, this is one of the cause, there might be multiple causes. I recommend you to downgrade the ESXi version to recommended as per VMware HCL.

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. Sandeep Vuzzini Sr. DevOps Engineer
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jmay
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

But I have an identical setup working on another VTrak and ESXi 5.5.

Any other ideas why this would be occurring?

- John

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vuzzini
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Technically, you can configure storage on ESXi and get access to the storage device although the recommended storage array is not available under VMware HCL. But there might be glitches while running the vSphere environment with heavy loads.

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. Sandeep Vuzzini Sr. DevOps Engineer
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vuzzini
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

In addition to this, check whether VAAI is enabled on ESXi hosts. If it is enabled, try disabling VAAI and test your environment.

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. Sandeep Vuzzini Sr. DevOps Engineer
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jmay
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

That didn't help.  Other ideas?  Maybe try disabling AULA on the SAN?  Though I have it on on the other working setup.

- John

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JPM300
Commander
Commander

Are the following the same across the SAN and ESXi hosts:

SAN:

Firmware / Softwarwe version

Since you said it is directly connected to the SAN I'm going to assume zoning is out here

ACL access

Multiplathing

ESXi Hosts

Bios versions
HBA drivers

Patch levels of ESXi / build numbers

Let us know.  It is odd that one works fine while the other doesn't.  Another thing you can do if you can accept an outage is hook up the connections that are working on the other host to the new host and see if you can get storage working properly.  It could be something as silly as a bad fibre cable or SFP.

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jmay
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ended up being a firmware issue with the VTrak related to VAAI.  Disabling VAAI in ESXi doesn't fix it.  I reverted to the firmware version on my working configuration and it worked fine.

Since then, Promise has updated the firmware which supposedly fixes this issue.  I will be testing such tomorrow.

- John

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