When trying to add Virtual Flash Resource Capacity, no esx host and no SSD is found

[thuang2]

In vSphere 5.5 web client, go to esx host -> Settings -> Virtual Flash Resource Management,

then click on "Add Capacity" button. The host/SSD device list is empty.

I followed the instructions in this posting, but the host/SSD device list remains empty.

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/464660

Does anyone know how to get around this problem? Thanks!

[a_p_]

Just a quick question. Can you confirm that the SSD doesn't contain any partitions as mentioned by tomtom901 in the discussion you referred to?

André

[tomtom901]

Also, can you show a esxcli storage core device list and share the output, relevant to the SSD?

[thuang2]

# esxcli storage core device list --device naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb

naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb

   Display Name: SEAGATE Serial Attached SCSI Disk (naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb)

   Has Settable Display Name: true

   Size: 140014

   Device Type: Direct-Access

   Multipath Plugin: NMP

   Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb

   Vendor: SEAGATE

   Model: ST9146803SS

   Revision: 3104

   SCSI Level: 5

   Is Pseudo: false

   Status: on

   Is RDM Capable: false

   Is Local: true   <-------------

   Is Removable: false

   Is SSD: true <------------

   Is Offline: false

   Is Perennially Reserved: false

   Queue Full Sample Size: 0

   Queue Full Threshold: 0

   Thin Provisioning Status: unknown

   Attached Filters:

   VAAI Status: unknown

   Other UIDs: vml.02000000005000c5003ab6a6eb535439313436

   Is Local SAS Device: true

   Is Boot USB Device: false

   No of outstanding IOs with competing worlds: 32

[tomtom901]

Can you do:

fdisk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb and in the fdisk prompt type the letter p. Paste the output here.

Tom

[thuang2]

~ # fdisk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb

***

*** The fdisk command is deprecated: fdisk does not handle GPT partitions.  Please use partedUtil

***

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 17849.

There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,

and could in certain setups cause problems with:

1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)

2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs

   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6eb: 146.8 GB, 146815737856 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 17849 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

                                    Device Boot      Start         End      Bloc                                            ks  Id System

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp1               1         115      9175                                            04   5 Extended

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp2             115         155      3154                                            36+  6 FAT16

Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp3             155       17849   1421350                                            56  fb VMFS

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp4   *           1           1        40                                            80   4 FAT16 <32M

Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp5               1          33      2559                                            84   6 FAT16

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp6              33          65      2559                                            84   6 FAT16

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp7              65          79      1126                                            24  fc VMKcore

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.5000c5003ab6a6ebp8              79         115      2928                                            48   6 FAT16

Partition table entries are not in disk order

[a_p_]

According to the output, the SSD contains the ESXi installation!?

André

[tomtom901]

It seems so. vFRC requires a non partitioned, dedicated SSD drive. If you don't have other local storage, installing ESXi on a USB stick might be an option.

[thuang2]

Does vFRC require a SSD drive that has to be local (of type VMW_SATP_LOCAL) ? If I have some other SSD drives (of type VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA) from EMC, NetApp or DELL storage, would that work for vFRC as well?

[tomtom901 · Accepted solution]

That would work indeed. You need to do some CLI commands to mark the device as local and SSD but I have outlined the steps in a post on my blog:

http://tomverhaeg.nl/vmware-esxi/vmware-esxi-tag-a-device-as-local-and-ssd/

[thuang2]

I followed the instructions from the link, but the instructions did not work for me.

I did mark device as "Local" and "SSD"; however, I still could not see any SSD

device when click on "add capacity" under Virtual Flash Resource Management.

Also, I was seeing the following error:

# esxcli storage core claiming reclaim -d naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756

Unable to unclaim path vmhba2:C0:T8:L0 on device naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756. Some paths may be left in an unclaimed state. You will need to claim them manually using the appropriate commands or wait for periodic path claiming to reclaim them automatically.

# esxcli storage core device list -d  naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756

naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756

   Display Name: Local NETAPP Disk (naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756)

   Has Settable Display Name: true

   Size: 10496

   Device Type: Direct-Access

   Multipath Plugin: NMP

   Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756

   Vendor: NETAPP

   Model: LUN

   Revision: 8030

   SCSI Level: 4

   Is Pseudo: false

   Status: on

   Is RDM Capable: false

   Is Local: true  <----------

   Is Removable: false

   Is SSD: true  <--------------

   Is Offline: false

   Is Perennially Reserved: false

   Queue Full Sample Size: 0

   Queue Full Threshold: 0

   Thin Provisioning Status: yes

   Attached Filters: VAAI_FILTER

   VAAI Status: supported

   Other UIDs: vml.020000000060a98000572d6134466f6b59643737564c554e202020

   Is Local SAS Device: false

   Is Boot USB Device: false

   No of outstanding IOs with competing worlds: 32

#  fdisk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756

***

*** The fdisk command is deprecated: fdisk does not handle GPT partitions.  Please use partedUtil

***

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT

Command (m for help): p

Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60a98000572d6134466f6b5964373756: 21495808 sectors, 20.5M

Logical sector size: 512

Disk identifier (GUID): 123a73e4-dc0f-4588-9a7d-c43773a39ac0

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 21495774

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

   1              64            8191        8128   0700

   2         7086080        15472639       8190K   0700

   3        15472640        21495774       5881K   0700

   5            8224          520191        499K   0700

   6          520224         1032191        499K   0700

   7         1032224         1257471        219K   0700

   8         1257504         1843199        571K   0700

   9         1843200         7086079       5120K   0700

[tomtom901]

There is still something on this disk (partitions), I think ESXi is installed here. Is that correct?

[thuang2]

There might be something on the device but that should not be ESXi because ESXi is installed on a local hard drive. Should I wipe out everything on this SSD device in order for this SSD device  would show up when click on "add capacity" under Virtual Flash Resource Management?

[tomtom901]

Yes, remove every partition on it.