Viewing newly added staorage in ESX 3.5

[dvillijg]

Hi all,

I need some assistance with regard to the following:

Evironment:

HP Proliant DL380-G5

8x146GB (internal) SAS RAID5

18GB memory

P400 RAID controller 512MB with BBWC

2 x quad-core 2.7ghz processor

VMware Infrastructure Foundation (ESX Server 3.5), NO VirtualCenter Server

NO SAN, only local disks

I have just added two additional hard drives and successfully completed an "Expand Array" using HP ACU . The ACU shows the new space on the Logicaldrive 1. I successfully extended the capacity of Logicaldrive 1 from 539GB to 839GB. Using the VI client the current storage capacity still shows 539GB. Do I have to use vmkfstools to expand the current storage capacity in ESX or how do I tell ESX about the newly added staorage. By selecting Add Storage in the VI client I dont have any available options.

Please see the attached screenshot for more info.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

[Lightbulb]

You cannot extend the existing VMFS datastore by increasing the size of the undelying LUN. You could have usesed the disks to create a separate logical drive which you could add as an extent, unfortunately since you have added the disks to the underlying storage the only way to get that capacity back would be to destroy the VMFS datastore and recreate.

[kjb007]

If you still have primary partitions left, you can use fdisk to create a new partition on that free space, change the type to fb, and add it as an extent. It should work, as long as there are partitions left. Post the output of 'fdisk -lu'

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[dvillijg]

Hi KjB,

thanks for your response. Here is the output of fdisk -lu:

Disk /dev/cciss/c0d0: 880.6 GB, 880690446336 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 107071 cylinders, total 1720098528 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/cciss/c0d0p1 * 63 208844 104391 83 Linux

/dev/cciss/c0d0p2 208845 10442249 5116702+ 83 Linux

/dev/cciss/c0d0p3 10442250 1141321859 565439805 fb Unknown

/dev/cciss/c0d0p4 1141321860 1146719699 2698920 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/cciss/c0d0p5 1141321923 1142430344 554211 82 Linux swap

/dev/cciss/c0d0p6 1142430408 1146510854 2040223+ 83 Linux

/dev/cciss/c0d0p7 1146510918 1146719699 104391 fc Unknown

Thanks

[kjb007]

Well, I have some bad news. You're only allowed to have 4 primary partitions, which you have fully utilized. If you have the downtime available to you, you can reinstall ESX. This will allow you to keep your existing VMFS, and during the partitioning phase of the wizard, you can either create a new VMFS, or at the very least, modify the partition layout so you can use the new space. You may be able to modify the partition table as is, but it is dangerous, and not guaranteed to work. Reinstall of ESX would be the easiest way to see the new space.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[dvillijg]

Thanks KjB,

I do have downtime available and will do the ESX reinstall. I have never reinstalled ESX over an existing installation. Are there any particilar things I need to watch out for? Is it just a normal install? You mentioned that I can keep the existing VMFS. Will the partitioning change affect any of the existing VM guests?

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks again.

[kjb007]

No, the vm's will be exactly the same. When you go through the wizard, just make sure the checkbox for keep existing vmfs is checked. That way, the vmfs filesystem that already exists will remain in tact, and all of the vm's will be there after the reinstall is complete. Once done, you'll use the datastore browser to look at the vmfs, and you'll have to re-register each vm, by right-clicking on the vmx file of the vm in the vm folder, and selecting add-to-inventory.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[dvillijg]

Thanks KjB. I will do the reinstall tomorrow.

Your help is much appreciated.

[dvillijg]

Hi,

as an after thought; the current version is ESX 3.5 Update 2. When doing the reinstall, can I use Update 4? Will this cause any potential issues?

Thanks

[norregaard]

I don't believe it will. With U4 you have the same option to leave any existing VMFS volumes untouched.

[dvillijg]

Hi,

I am now ready to do the ESX reinstall and at the partitioning setting in the GUI installer I get the following error when trying to partition the available free diskspace:

"Could not allocate requested partitions: Partitioning failed: The system partitions are too large to fit within the constraint you have specified. You will need to edit the partitions manually". Please see the attached screenshot.

Any assistance appreciated.

Thanks.

[AndreTheGiant]

You can't create a single VMFS partition with MORE the 2TB.

Is not supported in ESX 3.x (and I think also in VS 4), and it doen't work.

Andrea

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

[dvillijg]

Hi Andrea,

the original vmfs partition size was 550GB and the newly added free space around 270GB. This is below 2TB. I don't understand your reply.

Thanks

[AndreTheGiant]

Sorry, I've read wrong the free space.

[norregaard]

Do you have the option to resize the existing VMFS (around 550 GB) to fill out the remaining 270 GB of free space? I'm not quite sure if this can be done, though.

[kjb007]

What the scheme currently shows is your old config, which we need to modify.

Let's try the easy method first. On you new create window, check the box for 'force to be a primary partition' when you create the new vmfs. If that works, great. If not, use below.

Delete the /var/log, /, swap, vmkcore, and the extended spaces. We basically need to remove everything from the extended (c0d0p4) down, so we can recreate the extended space, which will allow you to create another vmfs partition. Once all the space shows as empty, recreate your other partitions, and I would not use the defaults for everything. Update swap to 1600mb (max service console memory is 800 mb, so just in case you need it later, prepare for it now. I use /var instead of /var/log, and I use 6 GB here. Update the / to 10 GB. Create a vmkcore at 100 mb. Create a /opt at about 4 gb.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

[dvillijg]

Thanks KjB, I will give that a go.

[dvillijg]

Excellent instructions - Newly added space is now visble in ESX.

Many thanks KjB.

[kjb007 · Accepted solution]

Don't forget to leave points for helpful / correct posts.

-KjB

VMware vExpert