Issue expanding VMFS volume

[VMmatty]

I'm trying to expand a VMFS volume from 50GB to 100GB. I've expanded the volume on the EqualLogic array to 100GB, and after rescanning on ESX it shows that the device has 100GB of capacity. If I click the Increase button I don't actually see the extra 50GB of space and can't increase it.

I've had this problem on ESX 4.0 and Update 1, and it is present after rebooting the hosts. I've expanded other volumes before without issue so I'm confused why I can't expand this one.

Anyone see anything obvious that I've missed?

[VMmatty]

No thoughts on this one?

[binoche]

what else may be located on 100GB lun, could you please post the results of fdisk -lu? thanks

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[VMmatty]

Here are the results. There should be three VMFS partitions on that ESX host. There is a 60GB VMFS partition (internal storage), a 1.95TB VMFS partition (this is where my VMDK files are stored), and a 100GB VMFS partition used only for ISOs. That last partition is the one I'm trying to grow.

If I'm reading this right, I don't see the 1.95TB or 100GB VMFS volumes. Maybe that is the issue?

Thanks for any help/thoughts.

Disk /dev/sda: 71.9 GB, 71999422464 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8753 cylinders, total 140623872 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 208844 104391 83 Linux

/dev/sda2 208845 10442249 5116702+ 83 Linux

/dev/sda3 10442250 135219104 62388427+ fb VMware VMFS

/dev/sda4 135219105 140616944 2698920 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda5 135219168 136327589 554211 82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda6 136327653 140408099 2040223+ 83 Linux

/dev/sda7 140408163 140616944 104391 fc VMware VMKCORE

Disk /dev/sdc: 8417 MB, 8417968128 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders, total 16441344 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sdc1 63 2104514 1052226 82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sdc2 2104515 6201089 2048287+ 83 Linux

/dev/sdc3 6201090 16434494 5116702+ 5 Extended

Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:

phys=(1023, 254, 63) logical=(1022, 254, 63)

/dev/sdc5 6201153 16434494 5116671 83 Linux

Unable to read /dev/sdd

[binoche]

1, could you please post the results of esxcfg-scsidevs -c;esxcli nmp device list? thanks

2, unable to read /dev/sdd? what is sdd, 100GB or 1.95TB?

3, for sdc, Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings: phys=(1023, 254, 63) logical=(1022, 254, 63), there looks like its partition table wrong

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[VMmatty]

I'm not sure what /dev/sdd is to be honest. You can see below the 1.95TB volume and the 100GB volume (the one I am trying to expand), so I'm not sure what that 0 MB device is.

Thanks again for any thoughts.

Here is the output of esxcfg-scsidevs -l with things like CD-ROMs and local disk removed to shorten it up a bit.

naa.6090a0387052b42a9793449bef975446

Device Type: Direct-Access

Size: 2048010 MB

Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052b42a9793449bef975446)

Plugin: NMP

Console Device: /dev/sde

Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6090a0387052b42a9793449bef975446

Vendor: EQLOGIC Model: 100E-00 Revis: 4.2

SCSI Level: 5 Is Pseudo: false Status: on

Is RDM Capable: true Is Removable: false

Is Local: false

Other Names:

vml.02000000006090a0387052b42a9793449bef975446313030452d30

naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462

Device Type: Direct-Access

Size: 102405 MB

Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462)

Plugin: NMP

Console Device: /dev/sdf

Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462

Vendor: EQLOGIC Model: 100E-00 Revis: 4.2

SCSI Level: 5 Is Pseudo: false Status: on

Is RDM Capable: true Is Removable: false

Is Local: false

Other Names:

vml.02000000006090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462313030452d30

naa.6090a0387052d4b49593549aef979454

Device Type: Direct-Access

Size: 0 MB

Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052d4b49593549aef979454)

Plugin: NMP

Console Device: /dev/sdd

Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6090a0387052d4b49593549aef979454

Vendor: EQLOGIC Model: 100E-00 Revis: 4.2

SCSI Level: 5 Is Pseudo: false Status: on

Is RDM Capable: true Is Removable: false

Is Local: false

Other Names:

vml.02000000006090a0387052d4b49593549aef979454313030452d30

Here is esxcli nmp device list again with CD-ROMs, etc, removed to keep it short.

naa.6090a0387052d4b49593549aef979454

Device Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052d4b49593549aef97945 4)

Storage Array Type: VMW_SATP_EQL

Storage Array Type Device Config:

Path Selection Policy: VMW_PSP_FIXED

Path Selection Policy Device Config: {preferred=vmhba34:C0:T0:L0;current=vmh ba34:C0:T0:L0}

Working Paths: vmhba34:C0:T0:L0

naa.6090a0387052b42a9793449bef975446

Device Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052b42a9793449bef97544 6)

Storage Array Type: VMW_SATP_EQL

Storage Array Type Device Config:

Path Selection Policy: VMW_PSP_FIXED

Path Selection Policy Device Config: {preferred=vmhba34:C0:T1:L0;current=vmh ba34:C0:T1:L0}

Working Paths: vmhba34:C0:T1:L0

naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462

Device Display Name: EQLOGIC iSCSI Disk (naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b46 2)

Storage Array Type: VMW_SATP_EQL

Storage Array Type Device Config:

Path Selection Policy: VMW_PSP_FIXED

Path Selection Policy Device Config: {preferred=vmhba34:C0:T2:L0;current=vmh ba34:C0:T2:L0}

Working Paths: vmhba34:C0:T2:L0

[binoche]

1, /dev/sdd is 0MB, it looks like management lun 0 from EQLOGIC array, please create new lun 0 such as 1 GB?

2, /dev/sde is 2048010 MB, vmware vshpere has 2TB limit, is this lun bigger than 2TB already?

3, /dev/sdf is 102405 MB failed to expand VMFS, please post the result of fdisk -lu /dev/sdf

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[VMmatty]

Here is the output from fdisk -lu /dev/sdf:

Disk /dev/sdf: 107.3 GB, 107379425280 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders, total 209725440 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sdf1 128 104872319 52436096 fb VMware VMFS

The 2TB LUN is actually 1.95TB according to VMware and is working correctly. It doesn't contain extents or anything else.

I agree that lun 0 is the EqualLogic management LUN and can be disregarded.

[binoche]

/dev/sdf has only 1 vmfs partition, it is correct; I do not know why it can not finish expanding

could you please remove 2TB lun 0MB lun and then retry?

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[VMmatty]

I can't remove the 2TB LUN, that contains production virtual machines. And I'm not sure that there is a way to remove that EqualLogic volume though I could be wrong.

It's not a matter of the volume not expanding, but rather when I choose to increase the size I don't even have an option to use the additional 50GB. See the screenshot I've attached - the VI Client can see that there is additional space, but I don't have access to it when I choose Increase.

Thanks again for all your help thus far.

[binoche]

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[binoche]

as work around, maybe you can have a try the below steps,

1, BACK UP your vmfs first

2, run similar steps to your naa.6090a0387052c4362795349cef97b462,

~ # vmkfstools -P -h /vmfs/volumes/local/

VMFS-3.46 file system spanning 1 partitions.

File system label (if any): local

Mode: public

Capacity 99.8 GB, 99.2 GB available, file block size 1 MB

UUID: 4b1f0614-2979ee78-98ce-00221952336a

Partitions spanned (on "lvm"):

naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5:1 <--- find the vmfs "local" located at this naa. device partition 1

~ # fdisk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5 -u

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 50992.

There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,

and could in certain setups cause problems with:

1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)

2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs

(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5: 419.4 GB, 419430334464 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 50992 cylinders, total 819199872 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5p1 128 209712509 104856191 fb VMFS <---find its partition start from 128

Command (m for help): d <--- delete this partition 1

Selected partition 1

Command (m for help): n

Command action

e extended

p primary partition (1-4)

p

Partition number (1-4): 1

First sector (63-819199871, default 63): 128

Last sector or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (128-819199871, default 819199871): Using default value 819199871 <---re-create this partition 1 and select start sector is 128 too and last sector to the default last one, now this partition 1 expanded

Command (m for help): t

Selected partition 1

Hex code (type L to list codes): fb <--- change id to fb

Changed system type of partition 1 to fb (VMFS)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5: 419.4 GB, 419430334464 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 50992 cylinders, total 819199872 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5p1 128 819199871 409599872 fb VMFS

Command (m for help): w <---save this new partition 1

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table

~ # vmkfstools growfs /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5\:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5\:1 <- grow the vmfs "local" to the expanded partition 1

~ # vmkfstools -P -h /vmfs/volumes/local/

VMFS-3.46 file system spanning 1 partitions.

File system label (if any): local

Mode: public

Capacity 390.5 GB, 390.0 GB available, file block size 1 MB <--- expanded from 100GB to 390GB now

UUID: 4b1f0614-2979ee78-98ce-00221952336a

Partitions spanned (on "lvm"):

naa.60022190ab8f5d00129ffdaf08dbd4e5:1

~ #

binoche, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNA

[VMmatty]

Thanks for the reply. I'll likely have to take it up with VMware support, as I'd rather not go through the steps outline below if I don't have to. Thanks for all of your help thus far. If you have any other suggestions I'm happy to try them out.

[VMmatty]

To follow up on this and bring it to a close. I rebooted both ESX hosts due to patching and adding some memory. After the reboot I was able to expand the volume without issue.

So there you have it - like always, rebooting fixes everything....

Thanks to all who assisted..