unable to create virtual machine

[simonzlin]

Hi,

I run into this problem recently on my HP Proliant DL 360 G5 with esxi 4.0 installed. The host machine has disk capacity of 553.75gb and has 241.68gb free. However, I cannot create a new virtual machine with 20gb disk space,

The event log says,

Cannot create virtual disk

/vmfs/volumes/4a1bdb41-7017dfdb-037a-001e0b47cbfe/esxi-vm58/esxi-vm-

58.vmdk

error

6/9/2009 6:03:24 PM

root

event.vprob.vmfs.resource.corruptondisk.fullFormat

(vprob.vmfs.resource.corruptondisk)

error

6/9/2009 6:03:23 PM

I then ssh into the machine and did

vmkfstools -c 20g -d zeroedthick /path/esxi-vm57.vmdk

The output says, "Failed to create virtual disk: Invalid argument (1441801)."

Does anyone know why? pls help me

[simonzlin]

i was able to create a virtual machine choose the disk to be thin-provisioned. Does anyone know why?

[simonzlin]

since no one can suggest something, i think i am out of luck...

[AndreTheGiant]

i was able to create a virtual machine choose the disk to be thin-provisioned. Does anyone know why?

Thin provisioning allocate the disk space dynamically.

Your problem seem a low level problem.

Try to do some check on your disks.

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

[simonzlin]

AndreTheGiant, thanks for the reply, now i see some hope to move on...

How would I check my disks for problems though? I have enabled SSH access on the esxi 4.0 server.

[AndreTheGiant]

I think that could be not simple to test low level disk from the "console" of ESX(i).

You have to use a Linux or Windows system and use diagnostic program.

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

[simonzlin]

So that I have to wipe out esxi and install windows or linux on the physical host to do the check?

Will the existing vms on the exsi server be affected if there were a low level disk problem that you mentioned? These vms were created using zeroedthick disk format

[AndreTheGiant]

Is the first time that I see you error:

event.vprob.vmfs.resource.corruptondisk.fullFormat (vprob.vmfs.resource.corruptondisk)

But seems a serius problem in storage or file management.

Mabye si only a corrupted VMFS, but I suggest to do a full backup of all your VM (just in case...)

Then you have to do some test to verify if a disk problem (have you any error on your HP?) or a filesystem error.

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

[simonzlin]

Hi AndreTheGaint, thanks for the reply...

What is the best way to verify if it is a disk problem or filesystem error, and What is the best way to do a full backup of all the vms? I just download all the vmdk files to the local harddrive through datasource browser or is there some software that can automate this process?

Sorry, I am all new to esxi and we are still testing this product to see if we should deploy it to other physical machines....wasn't kind of expecting this type of failure though....

[AndreTheGiant]

What is the best way to verify if it is a disk problem or filesystem error,

To be sure that disk are safe your need HP tools.

To only very if the problem is in the VMFS (very rare), you can try to destroy and re-formatting the VMFS volumes.

What is the best way to do a full backup of all the vms?

Power-off the VM, then use SCP/FastSCP/Converter or other tool.

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

[wtellis]

Were you ever able to find a fix? I have the exact same problem with a DL165, but there doesn't appear to be an issue w/ the hardware. In fact if I downgrade to ESXi 3.5 the problem goes away.

[simonzlin]

Hi ,

I am not able to fix the problem. However, to get around, try to create thin-provisioned vm. It works ok for me. I am not sure if it will run into any kind of problems when the disk grows.

[Peter1967]

I've the same problem here.

Can't create, or extend existing, vm's anymore. (have 1,15 TB free)

Had already problems after rebooting a VM that wouldn't come up anymore because ESXi couldn't create a swap for the VM.

I've put the swap on another disk and VM was able to boot then.

Did you solved it already? (and how...)

[wtellis]

Hi Peter,

We were never able to solve the problem. We just ended up downgrading to ESXi 3.5.

[DSTAVERT]

You short change yourself by not creating a new post. Fully outline your problem and list all of your hardware make model drive controller etc. What happened and when? These are not common problems.

[dilpreet]

Here is the link to the KB for that problem:

http://www.vmware.com/esx/support/askvmware/index.php?eventtype=vprob.vmfs.resource.corruptondisk

You would have been able to get here via the VC UI's "Ask VMware" button.

[wtellis]

-