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globrien
Contributor
Contributor

Datastore dissapeared after extending VMFS

Hi

I think I have just done something very very wrong!

Here is my setup.

1 x ESX 4.1

2 x ESX 3.5

1 x DELL MD3000i

The two esx 3.5 hosts are managed by a vCenter (version 4.1) but the ESX 4.1 host isn't. All hosts however access the same virtual disks on the MD3000i.

In a desperate move to add some more storage to some guests on the ESX 4.1 host I have extended the VMFS on the shared datastore. This seems to have worked fine on the ESX 4.1 host as I can now see the additional space.

However on one of the ESX 3.5 hosts I refreshed the storage view and the shared datastore has completely disappeared.

The second ESX 3.5 server still shows the datastore at the previous unexpanded size but I dare not refresh that one.

The guest servers on the server that the datastore has disapeared from are still running fine so I think the storage is still attached but I just can't see it in the console.

My guests are all still running so I don't want to do anything that will break them.

I can shut all down at the weekend if required.

Any suggestions on how to recover the datastore on my ESX 3.5 hosts?

Thanks

Gordon

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13 Replies
sa2057
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

How much size did you extend?.  Pl. check the limitation for different file systems.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100356...

Thanks

SA

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globrien
Contributor
Contributor

It was originally 272Gb and I extended it by 136Gb

Block size is 1Mb

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sa2057
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi,

Try the below link on the host where the datastore was disconnected.

http://www.randombugs.com/recovery/vmfs-datastore-missing-2.html

Thanks

SA

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sa2057
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Hot Shot

Hi,

There is another fix on the below..

http://www.bulldogit.org/?p=24

Could you pl. update this post if you find any fix.

Thanks

Sa

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globrien
Contributor
Contributor

The first solution didn't work Smiley Sad

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sa2057
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Hot Shot

Hi,

Oh sorry. Did you try resignaturing?.

Pl. check this

http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2008/08/a-few-technic-1.html

Thanks

SA

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globrien
Contributor
Contributor

I am a bit wary about performing fdisk operations on the file system as the files appear to be intact.

On the ESX4.1 server I can browse the datastore and see all of the VMDK files etc on there. The guests on the missing datastore are running.

Under Storage Adapters on the ESX3.5 hosts I can see the newly increased LUN but I don't see it as a datastore.

If I click on Add Storage I can also see the LUN with the missing datastore but If I select it the console shouts about deleting the current disk layout.

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sa2057
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Hot Shot

Yes I agree with you. For me it looks like LUN ID's mismatch. Can you post the error msg .

Thanks

SA

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globrien
Contributor
Contributor

Not sure what you mean by error message.

I'm not currently getting an error which is the odd thing. All guests are running. There is one event showing on the host:

Removed datastore [datastore name] from [host name] in [datacenter name]

I have looked in var/log but there are that many log files I wouldn't know where to start.

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sa2057
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Pl. check this forum

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/200479

This seems to be similar problem

Thanks

SA

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globrien
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Contributor

tried the fix at the end of that thread but still no luck

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sa2057
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Hot Shot

Sorry. After somuch research, the problem is all about resignature and I would recommend to take a complete backup of the current datastore. Found some info. on the below link and also I would recommend to contact VMware support if they might help.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/139242

Not sure but can you try this when vm's are offline, I mean on a weekend or so.

Hope your problem will be fixed.

Thanks

SA

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globrien
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Contributor

Thanks again SA

I'll have a go at that over the weekend.

Cheers

Gordon

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