esxi4.1 hosts can't access shared LUN at same time

[HCC]

Hi,

I have 2 x IBM x3650M3 ESXi4.1 hosts that are using Fibre Channel storage.  In VCenter I can see the assigned LUNs on both however I can add it to only one Host server.  It does not automatically appear after a rescan and I can not manually add the LUN to the second Host keeping signature intact.

[idle-jam]

what's the model of the SAN storage? is the LUN type created mean to be vmware format? you might want to check with the manufacturer tutorial on presenting LUN to vmware hosts.

[a_p_]

Did you present the LUNs to both hosts with the same LUN-ID?

André

[HCC]

Storage is EMC Sym DMX3...Storage is assigned to both and I can see that the each host can see it however when I added it to Host1, it does not update Host2 and if I try to manually add it to Host2 it give me an error that it can't change host configuration.

[idle-jam]

if a reboot is permitted, i would give it a shot ..

[a_p_]

You did not answer my question. Let's troubleshoot step by step.

• create a LUN on the storage system
• add the hosts with their FC WWN's to the storage system
• present the LUN to both hosts assigning the same LUN-ID
• rescan the host's storage adapters
• does the LUN show up on both hosts in "Configuration" --> "Storage Adapters"?
• create a VMFS datastore on this LUN using the "Add Storage" wizard in "Configuration" --> "Storage"
• rescan the host's storage adapters for new VMFS datastores
• does the datastore show up on both hosts in "Configuration" --> "Storage"

Please go through these steps and add a comment on what you see after each of them.

André

[HCC]

Note: I am not the Storage Admin however this is not the first Vmware enivronment but our first ESxi4.1 install.

• create a LUN on the storage system add the hosts with their FC WWN's to the storage system  
  

          DONE

• present the LUN to both hosts assigning the same LUN-ID
  

          DONE

• rescan the host's storage adapters
  

          DONE

• does the LUN show up on both hosts in "Configuration" --> "Storage Adapters"?
  

          Yes

• create a VMFS datastore on this LUN using the "Add Storage" wizard in "Configuration" --> "Storage"
  

          Worked on Host1 but Host 2 will not work.

• rescan the host's storage adapters for new VMFS datastores
  

          DONE

• does the datastore show up on both hosts in "Configuration" --> "Storage
  

          Only showed up on Host1, which was the first one I did.  Host2 will not let me add it.

[marcelo_soares]

Have you checked if on both ESX's the SAN identifier is the same? If you have the identifier beggining with sym.XXXXX it could mean that you didn't had setup your symmetrix environment correctly.

Check KB http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1019334. There are useful information there if this is your case.

[HCC]

thanks for the replies....

Is this something new as I have an independant VCenter/ ESX 4.0 system running on same storage device with no issues...

thanks