vSAN 6.2 480 GB SSD problem

[Ferhat_Tuna]

Hi there,

This is urgent situation.Would be nice to get your experience.

I got 4 dell r730 server and running on esxi 6.0.Each server has 7 1.9 TB Ssd and 2 480 GB Ssd drives.Due to the micro sd problem, I install the operating system on one of the 480 ssd disk.Addition that ı thought  should set it to the second 480 gb ssd for vSAN disk cache and buffering.However when ı started to configure vSAN,ı realized that 7 1.9 TB SSD are shown but 480 gb Ssd is not shown.But ı can see the 480 gb ssd on esxi from storage tab like unmapped.

İf ı get your help as soon as possible,ı'll be appreciated.

Regards..

[TheBobkin · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Just to clarify:

When you go to configure the disk-group for a host (Cluster > Manage > Virtual SAN > Disk Management) and select create new disk-group it does not show the 480GB disk as available to mark as cache-tier disk?

If not then it probably has a partition on it.

SSH to the host and check:

#vdq -q

This will list all attached devices and whether they can be used for vSAN (and will say ineligible due to partitions if so).

If it has partition(s) on it and is NOT the disk used for boot then blank it.

You can do this from the Web Client at Host > Manage > Storage > Storage Adapters > select the vmhba > select the device > click erase partitions.

(NOTE TO ANYONE READING THIS IN FUTURE: DOUBLE-CHECK WHAT IS ON ANY DEVICE BEFORE ERASING PARTITIONS AND DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Bob

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[Ferhat_Tuna]

Hi Bobkin,

Thank you ı saw the 300 mb partition on my 480 gb ssd disk.Now can you tell me how can ı remove this partition?

I

[TheBobkin]

Hello,

Also note though:

Assuming you are using some variant of a H730 controller, when using lsi_mr3 driver, running a VMFS volume (even just for logging) on the same controller as the vSAN disks is not supported.

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2136374

My understanding of it is that this is due to these controllers basically not handling VMFS and virstoFS (vSAN on-disk format) at the same time as reliably as needed.

So basically don't use this for logging or coredump or scratch (other options such as SATADOM or syslog will be more reliable).

Also note as per that kb article that there is an additional step to configure boot from such a device:

"VMware does support ESXi installed on a disk (ESXi boot disk only) on the H730 with vSAN drives. To apply this, first install ESXi on a device attached to the H730 controller, and then remove/delete the VMFS datastore from the local boot device."

Bob

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[TheBobkin]

As per my first comment:

"If it has partition(s) on it and is NOT the disk used for boot then blank it.

You can do this from the Web Client at Host > Manage > Storage > Storage Adapters > select the vmhba > select the device > click erase partitions."

Just make sure it is the right device

[Ferhat_Tuna]

Thanks Bobkin,

İt works 😃

Kindly Regards..