Problem with delete/unmounting an inactive datastore

[PorterJervis]

I have an issue where there is an inactive datastore showing on one of the hosts in vSphere.  If I attempt to unmount, I get an error which states I need to disable Storage IO Control.  I disabled SIOC but the datastore still will not unmount or delete.

If I log on directly to the host, the datastore is not displayed and it also not displayed via the command line.

So, I am deducing that the issue is with vSphere not the host.

How do I go about removing this datastore in vSphere?

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi,

1.Connect to each ESXi 5.x host to which the LUN is presented by using SSH.

2.Run this command  to stop the SIOC service:

/etc/init.d/storageRM stop

3.In the vSphere Client, select the host and then click the Configuration tab.

4.Click Rescan All.

5.After the rescan completes, run this command to restart the SIOC service:

/etc/init.d/storageRM start

Note: If the issue persists, put the affected ESXi 5.x host into maintenance mode and then reboot the host.

[PorterJervis]

HI:

I have seen this article and performed the tasks except for restarting the host.  It did not work.I'll have to schedule a reboot.

Since I cannot see the inactive volume on the host, does it make sense that its a vSphere issue and not the host?

Thanks for your comments.

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi, No its not a vSphere issue..... As you said you cannot see the volume directly on the ESXi login. Actually its the entry made in vCenter database which will take time to reflect when vCenter database job is refresh/rerun as per the schedule. You can either restart the vCenter services and check or reboot the ESXi host to get the updated data.

[blabarbera]

Does the datastore appear greyed out in the vSphere client? I've had a similar issue in the past with records getting stuck in the vCenter DB and followed the following KB to resolve:

VMware KB: Unable to remove a datastore from the vCenter Server 4.x / 5.x inventory