I'm trying to automate the creation of a few VMFS volumes as part of a PXE kickstart install. I'm able to manually format the LUNs without any problems by using the VI client after a host has been installed. However, when I try to format the partition table from the command line I'm running into a roadblock. I know that the partition needs to be offset in a particular way with the correct flag (fb) to be recognized as a VMFS partition. Here is what I'm trying to do:
1. Wipe the LUN clean with `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdi bs=1m count=50` -- writing 50mb of zeros to the beginning of the drive
2. Dump a valid vmfs3 parition table back to the drive:
[root@esx01 ~]# sfdisk -f /dev/sdi < SharedTMPLs.part
Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...
OK
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/sdi1 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdi2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdi3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdi4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
New situation:
Device Boot Start End #sectors Id System
/dev/sdi1 128 20964824 20964697 fb VMware VMFS
/dev/sdi2 0 - 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdi3 0 - 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdi4 0 - 0 0 Empty
Warning: partition 1 does not end at a cylinder boundary
Successfully wrote the new partition table
3. Format the vmfs3 partition with vmkfstools:
[root@esx01 ~]# vmkfstools -C vmfs3 -S SharedTMPL -b 1m /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60060160610022002622302cd8e4dd11
Creating vmfs3 file system on "naa.60060160610022002622302cd8e4dd11" with blockSize 1048576 and volume label "SharedTMPL".
Usage: vmkfstools -C vmfs3 /vmfs/devices/disks/vml... or,
vmkfstools -C vmfs3 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa... or,
vmkfstools -C vmfs3 /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhbaA:T:L:P
*Error: Permission denied*
[root@esx01 ~]#
I'm running these commands as root. I have tried using vmkfstools -L release vmhba1, which seems to succeed but I still get the permission denied error.
Any ideas?
