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hergtp
Contributor
Contributor

Esxi using GPFS (Spectrum Scale) NFS-ganesha (nfs3)

VMware ESXi 6.5a hypervisor can mount an nfs3 volume using both the     

native nfs-server and Spectrum Scale (GPFS) nfs-ganesha.                                    

                                                                       

When I register a VM (or create a new VM) using a nfs3 native-nfs3 nfs-server (ibmnfs)  

datastore, power on is successful                                      

When I register the same VM using nfs3 nfs-ganesha (ibmces) datastore, 

this fails.                                                            

                                                                       

Is there a reason?                                                     

                                                                       

When attempted, I get:                                                 

                                                                       

Failed to power on virtual machine ibmflexlm. Module 'MonitorLoop'     

power on failed.  Click here for more details.                         

                                                                       

Power On VM                                                            

Key haTask-7-vim.VirtualMachine.powerOn-118516861                      

Description Power On this virtual machine                              

Virtual machine ibmflexlm                                              

State Failed - Module 'MonitorLoop' power on failed.                   

Errors                                                                 

                                                                       

    Module 'MonitorLoop' power on failed.                              

    File system specific implementation of Lookup[file] failed         

    File system specific implementation of Lookup[file] failed         

    File system specific implementation of Lookup[file] failed         

    Failed to create swap file '/vms/ibmflexlm/./ibmflexlm-219271a5.    vswp' : Not found                                                      

    Could not power on virtual machine: Not found.                     

    Failed to power on VM.                                             

    Failed to start the virtual machine.                               

                                                                       

However, on the ESXi hypervisor I have rw access to the directory and   files                                                                  

# cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ibmflexlm                                

# touch ibmflexlm-219271a5.vswp                                        

                                                                       

# ssh ibmnfs cat /etc/exports                                          

/gpfsna1            *(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,         

fsid=32768)                                                            

                                                                       

# ssh ibmces mmnfs export list --nfsdefs /gpfsna1                      

Path     Delegations Clients               Access_Type Protocols        Transports Squash         Anonymous_uid Anonymous_gid SecType           PrivilegedPort DefaultDelegations Manage_Gids FS_Commit               

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                               

/gpfsna1 NONE        *                     RW          3,4              TCP        NO_ROOT_SQUASH -2            -2            SYS               FALSE          NONE               FALSE       FALSE                    

/gpfsna1 NONE        172.20.5.6,172.20.5.7 RW          3,4              TCP        NO_ROOT_SQUASH -2            -2            SYS               FALSE          NONE               FALSE       FALSE           

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2 Replies
vKopp
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Hergtp,

I am also trying to use GPFS volume as NFS datastore for the DRS-Cluster.

Actually I am able to mount the volume as NFSv3 and even st-vmotion powered-off VMs, but a PowerON of VM fails with "Module 'MonitorLoop' error"

I see in the vmkernel.log :

WARNING: Swap: 3683: Failed to create swap file '/Win003-NFS-Test/./Win003-NFS-Test-bd2f6853.vswp.35208' : Not found

Aslo the /var/log/vmkernel.log is full of "VmkAccess: 178: ipAddr = 0.0.0.0" messages since NFS volume is mounted.

Questions:

1) was you able to solve your problem?

2) Are you still using GPFS as a shared storage for ESXi?

3) If yes, what is the statement from VMware reg. supportability. I saw it HCL, but not 100% sure:

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=san&productid=39658&release... Elastic&arrayTypes=3&isSVA=0&page=1&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc

IBMIBM Elastic Storage ServerNAS
ESXi
6.7

Could you please share your expirience in this topic?

Thx a lot!

Regards,

JK

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xmydsj
Contributor
Contributor

Dear :

    Do you have any documents that  esxi use GPFS  as shared storage 。  I want to learn  how  to  install ,thanks.

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