Deleting a VMFS datastore

[serious_callers]

Hi All,

I'm looking to permanently delete (ie remove from each of my 12 esx hosts) one of my datastores (vmfs 3.31, single extent) which is currently being presented from an old RAID unit via FC and is no longer in use.

I'm a bit confused as to wherever or not I'm safe to just right click and hit "delete"  on the datastore from within the vSphere client?  I found this documentation which seems to suggest that's all you need to do.:

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50%2FGUID-E36BD8...

However,then I stumped across this "best practise" guide, which seems to show a much more in depth process, with many more steps:

Best Practice: How to correctly remove a LUN from an ESX host | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

I'm a bit confused as to what I should be doing here, and if it is safe to just hit "delete", as in the first link, or should i be following the guide above?

I should add that this is all in a vsphere 4.1x environment.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[ssbkang]

Hi Matt,

I am not sure which backend storage you are using but what I normally do is the following:

• Delete the datastore (this will only delete the VMFS partition)
• Un-map/un-present the raw disk from ESXi servers
• Rescan all HBAs

Please leave a comment if you need further details.

-Steven

[serious_callers]

Hi Steve, i'm running infrotrend RAID arrays which are connected to a SAN over Fibre Channel.

Just to clarify, when you say un-map/un present the raw disk, is this to be done on the storage unit itself?  can this be achieved by simply disconnecting the unit from the SAN once the datastore is deleted in vSphere?

[ssbkang]

Hi Matt,

Yes, on the storage unit, physically un-present the disk from the ESXi servers.

So, after deleting the VMFS Volume in vSphere client (make sure there are no virtual machines, no Storage DRS, no SIOC. It will warn you anyway), disconnect the unit from the SAN and Rescan HBAs (right click on the cluster and click Rescan for datastores).

Hope this helps,

-Steven