Lost Local Datastore

[aefx]

A while back I decided to apply a raft of updates to one of my ESX 3.5 servers to take it from update 1 to update 3. After this process was complete and the server rebooted I found that the server complained of having no datastores. Via vCenter I checked the storage adapters section to verify that the target was listed there correrctly for the HP Smart Array E200i with the appropriate size for the local disk based storage. I then went to the storage section and attempted to add new storage but the system did not see any available to add. If I perform this last bit using the VI client connecting directly to the host instead of vCenter, the partition displays when I select new storage. I canceled that because I was not sure if I selected it to add if I would lose data.

I then connect to the SC on the host and performed the following-

fdsisk -l shows that I'm missing my third partition, /dev/cciss/c0d0p3.

esxcfg-vmhbadevs only displays vmhba0 :smileyshocked: :smileyshocked: /dev/cciss/c0d0 but nothing else.

I get the feeling that the partition is still there but indentifying information has been corrupted or removed? I have attached a screenshot of the above information. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[M__Y_]

Hi,

How was connected your lost storage? On which brand/model of card?

Could you post the result of the following command?

ls -l /vmfs/devices/disks

Regards.

[aefx]

Thanks for the reply. The server is a HP bl460c with a E200i Smart Array containing two 146GB SAS drives in a RAID 0 array. Please see the screenshot for the information you require.

[SuryaVMware · Accepted solution]

It appears that the old VMFS partition was removed for some reason. However, since you haven't recreted the datastore you should have the actual data.

Follow the steps below.

1) Run fdisk /dev/cciss/c0d0

2) press 'n'

3) select 'primary' partition type and select partion no 3 if prompted.

4) start the partition at '1281' and end it at '34350'

5) select 't' to change the partition type and select 'fb' as the partition type.

6) save the partition structure and quit the fdisk with 'w'

7) Run vmkfstools -V ( note V in CAPS )

😎 vdf should show you your lost VMFS volume.

Let me know if this helps.

-Surya

[aefx]

Yup, that's it. Thanks Surya.