dosfsck on naa?

[crescendas]

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. 

[VTsukanov]

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

[crescendas]

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

naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08 : Local Dell Disk (naa.600508e00000000016d23c1600015c08)

   vmhba2:C1:T0:L0 LUN:0 state:active sas Adapter: 50024e804e062b00  Target: 85c0100163cd216

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

[crescendas]

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?

[VTsukanov · Accepted solution]

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/)

[crescendas]

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

[VTsukanov]

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

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    

[crescendas]

Oh dear... Thanks!