SAN volumes misconfigured in vmx file

[bnelson]

Has anyone else had problems with mapped raw (NTFS) volumes on the SAN losing their correct pathing in the vmx file? On two occasions where I had to manually power off the ESX server and the SAN, the raw mapped NTFS volume is losing proper configuration.

the proper config line is

scsi0:1.filename = "/vmsf/volumes/455b59fb-864277ba-4e1f-0090279ff3b9/csdfs1/csdfs1_3.vmdk"

but, after power on, the config line looks like

scsi0:1.filename = "csdfs1_3.vmdk"

Noticeably, if I don't perform a clean shutdown and restart, and both the SAN and the ESX server suffer power loss and power restoration, the raw mapped volumes do not lose their configuration.

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One more question: should not the configuration information for deleted SAN volumes be removed from the vmx file? Why should the following line even exist in the vmx file if the volume and all the data has been deleted?

scsi0:2.present = "false"

And, the rdmp.vmdk files still exist in the VM directory; even though the volumes no longer exist on the SAN?

ESX 3.0.1 on Dell 2650

Message was edited by:

bnelson

[admin · Accepted solution]

Is this RDM in virtual compatibility mode? It looks like it is from the .vmx file line you posted. With virutal compatibilty RDMs the .vmx points at a .vmdk, which is itself a pointer to the RDM LUN. As this .vmdk pointer goes into the VM's config file directory (same one as the .vmx), there is no need to specify the path to the .vmdk, which is why it's being shortened to just the filename.

Are you actually having problems with operation of the VM? If you're not, from the above I'd be inclined to say this is normal behaviour and not to worry about it.

The reason it doesn't get editted during a non-clean shutdown is that the editting is doen during a shutdown.