Unable to reclaim space on Datastore

[ahaywood1]

On Vcenter Version 6.0.0

I Deleted the VMDK file / VM folder of the vm in datastore of a Thick provisioned VM. I failed to realise i couldve used the vmkfstools command on the vmdk and resize that way. Now i have about 700GB of storage i need to reclaim from datastore however  when i run the following command i get the following:  Any Help would be appreciated!!!

vmkfstools -y /vmfs/volumes/5237a37a-504901d2-6e1d-0017a4770402
Volume '/vmfs/volumes/5237a37a-504901d2-6e1d-0017a4770402' spans device 'naa.60002ac0000000000000001700005def:1' that does not support unmap.
Devices backing volume /vmfs/volumes/5237a37a-504901d2-6e1d-0017a4770402 do not support UNMAP.
Error: Not supported (195887136)

[Lalegre]

@ahaywood1,

Could be possible that your Storage Array does not support this or that this VMFS was previously a VMFS-3 and does not have a valid partition. Run the following:

esxcli storage core device vaai status get -d naa.60002ac0000000000000001700005def

esxcli storage core device partition showguid

Copy the output.

[ahaywood1]

see image attached.

[ahaywood1]

I also ran into this article in regard to unmap..but i also want to understand the implications of doing an unmap and will i have to re-map/etc.

https://receponer.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/reclaiming-storage-space-unmap/

[Lalegre]

Seems that your volume actually does not support this, it could be possible that your LUN is thick provisioned and the UNMAP only works for thin provisioning LUN. Let's check the status:

esxcli storage core device list -d naa.60002ac0000000000000001700005def

Also, what Storage Array are you using?

[ahaywood1]

i also found this article:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-BC1A172C-E649-4812...

[AnaghB]

Hello @ahaywood1 ,

The command output that you have shared states that the delete status is unsupported. This means that the unmap is not supported by the SAN.

Check if any other LUN from same SAN shows unsupported or supported option in Delete Status. 

If other LUNs from same SAN is showing as supported and only this LUN is not then mostly this LUN was created earlier where the SAN Controller Firmware was old.

If all the LUNs from same SAN are showing Delete Status unsupported then your SAN does NOT support unmap.

[ahaywood1]

see atatched image.

We are running a 3Par however that is all of the detail i was given. its an old infrastructure i inherited so still working to gather that information..unfortunately i work remotely so i do not have physical access to go on prem and take a look myself. Vsphere/center/Esxi for example cannot be upgraded because of our old hardware limitations.

[ahaywood1]

please see attached

[Lalegre]

@ahaywood1,

By looking also at this screenshot, it seems that your volume does not support the UNMAP operation and this has to do on how the volume is presented from 3PAR configuration. This is because the volume is thick and not thin and UNMAP from 3PAR is not supported using thick configuration.

[ahaywood1]

so is there no possible way of recovering the unused storage space ? what are my options? Your suggestions are very much so appreciated 😃

[AnaghB]

Hello @ahaywood1 ,

There is no option to reclaim unused space as your SAN does not supports UNMAP which is 1 of the VAAI functionality. There is a option which is a complicated workaround.

1. Create a new Thin Provision LUN from the same SAN and map it to all Esxis.

2. Create a new Datastore.

3. Migrate all the VMs from old Datastore to new Datastore and post that only the actual space will be used.

This is not a solution and can be used as a workaround for 1-2 times but eventually you might want to contact the SAN Support and ask them about the support of the UNMAP VAAI functionality.

[RashidAdiyaramb]

Suggestion: 

1. Ask your storage team to assign a new LUN
2. You configure new LUN as new datastore
3. Migrate Live VMs running on existing datastore to new datastore
4. Finally unmount the old datastore from ESXi host/cluster
5. Then storage admin can delete the old LUN

[AnaghB]

Hello @ahaywood1 ,

Is this issue resolved?

[ahaywood1]

No i still do not believe that this issue is resolved.. there must be some way to reclaim the space.

[AnaghB]

Hello @ahaywood1 ,

The feature of space reclaimation is a feature of SAN Box. By default it is enabled on Esxi but if the SAN does not supports it then there is nothing that can be done from Vmware side. I would recommend to get the unmap feature checked by the SAN Vendor once and if SAN vendor confirms that the SAN make and model that you are using does supports unmap then the space reclaimation should definately work.