ESXi

I need to run dosfsck to check on my system partition. However, when I execute fdisk -l, it is showing me partitions in naa.xxx instead of vmhbaxxx

Since dosfsck can only handle vmhbaxxx but not naa.xxx, how do I list the system partition as vmhbaxxx?

Note that esxcfg-vmhbadevs command is NOT found in ESXi console to list the system partition as vmhbaxxx.  :smileysad:

Try to execute command

esxcfg-mpath -b

Some detail - Identifying disks when working with VMware ESX (part of ESX/ESXi 4.x). Keep in mind that the command "dosfsck" can check only FAT.

Also you can boot from LiveCD and check FAT with the help of standard Windows utility chkdsk

This command esxcfg-mpath -b only show the local harddisk, but not the partitions in it:

The other command, ls -alh shows the partition other names as vml.xxx instead:

drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          512 Mar 14 05:53 .

drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root          512 Mar 14 05:53 ..

-rw-------    1 root     root       465.3G Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08

-rw-------    1 root     root       896.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:1

-rw-------    1 root     root         4.0G Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:2

-rw-------    1 root     root       460.4G Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:3

-rw-------    1 root     root         4.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:4

-rw-------    1 root     root       250.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:5

-rw-------    1 root     root       250.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:6

-rw-------    1 root     root       110.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:7

-rw-------    1 root     root       286.0M Mar 14 05:53 naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:8

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           36 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:1 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:1

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:2 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:2

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:3 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:3

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:4 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:4

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:5 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:5

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:6 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:6

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:7 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:7

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           38 Mar 14 05:53 vml.0200000000600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08564952545541:8 -> naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08:8

I am able to use dosfsck on vml.xxx.

Thanks!

btw, is there an utility to check other partition such as VMFS inside ESXi console?

Unfortunately there is no official method checking/repairing VMFS filesystem and the more so from ESXi console.

You can try to use MOA-ESXi-Rescue-CD (from continuum or  http://sanbarrow.com/)

Thanks for your help. I have marked them as helpful and answered.

I was only suspecting harddisk error but it could also be network connection issue. It was this host error from our vCenter:

Event details:
Error detected on 192.168.x.x in xxxxx: Agent unable to save configuration to disk: Error syncing firmware configuration: vim.fault.TooManyWrites

One possible reason for the error vim.fault.TooManyWrites this is read error on the VMFS volume :smileysad:

I would try to move VM's to another ESXi host and re-create the vmfs volume

Take a look at blog post Problém s VMWARE vCenter – Error syncing firmware configuration: vim.fault.TooManyWrites    

Oh dear... Thanks!