On my ESXi 6 host I am currently sending a USB external drive to a VM for backups, this drive is 2TB in size and I have had no problems with it at all. Recently, purchased a 5TB drive to replace it since my backups are getting quite sizeable, I was shocked when I found out that the passthrough in ESXi is not working for this drive. I was hoping to get some help.
The disk that works fine; details
[root@localhost:~] lsusb -vvv
Bus 002 Device 013: ID 4971:ce17 SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x4971 SimpleTech
idProduct 0xce17 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive
bcdDevice 0.00
iManufacturer 10 HitachiGST
iProduct 11 SimpleDrive USB 2.0
iSerial 3 D20102500436
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 32
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 4 USB Mass Storage
bmAttributes 0xc0
Self Powered
MaxPower 2mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk-Only
iInterface 6 MSC Bulk-Only Transfer
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 6
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
bNumConfigurations 1
Device Status: 0x0001
Self Powered
The disk that is detected but cannot be attached to VM
[root@localhost:~] lsusb -vvv
Bus 002 Device 036: ID 0480:d011 Toshiba America Info. Systems, Inc.
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.10
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x0480 Toshiba America Info. Systems, Inc.
idProduct 0xd011
bcdDevice 3.16
iManufacturer 1 TOSHIBA
iProduct 2 External USB 3.0
iSerial 3 20151124010354
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 32
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xc0
Self Powered
MaxPower 2mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk-Only
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
bLength 5
bDescriptorType 15
wTotalLength 42
bNumDeviceCaps 3
USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 2
bmAttributes 0x00000002
Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 3
bmAttributes 0x00
wSpeedsSupported 0x000e
Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)
Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
bFunctionalitySupport 1
Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)
bU1DevExitLat 10 micro seconds
bU2DevExitLat 2047 micro seconds
Container ID Device Capability:
bLength 20
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 4
bReserved 0
ContainerID {151ca73c-b946-4fd1-a3f8-925170fb369c}
Device Status: 0x0001
Self Powered
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: VTHREAD initialize main thread 3 "usbArb" pid 1027049
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "/usr/lib/vmware/config": No such file or directory.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: PREF Optional preferences file not found at /usr/lib/vmware/config. Using default values.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DictionaryLoad: Cannot open file "//.vmware/config": No such file or directory.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: PREF Optional preferences file not found at //.vmware/config. Using default values.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: PREF Disabling user preferences because disableUserPreferences is set.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: PREF Failed to load user preferences.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- GLOBAL SETTINGS /usr/lib/vmware/settings
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- NON PERSISTENT
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- USER PREFERENCES
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- USER DEFAULTS //.vmware/config
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- HOST DEFAULTS /etc/vmware/config
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT libdir = "/usr/lib/vmware"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT authd.proxy.nfc = "vmware-hostd:ha-nfc"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT authd.proxy.nfcssl = "vmware-hostd:ha-nfcssl"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT authd.proxy.vpxa-nfcssl = "vmware-vpxa:vpxa-nfcssl"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT authd.proxy.vpxa-nfc = "vmware-vpxa:vpxa-nfc"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT authd.fullpath = "/sbin/authd"
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: DICT --- SITE DEFAULTS /usr/lib/vmware/config
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: USBArb: Error in '/etc/vmware/usbarb.rules' at line 1:0, '[' or '{' expected near end of file.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: VMware USB Arbitration Service Version 13.1.14
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: USBArb: Attempting to connect to existing arbitrator on /var/run/vmware/usbarbitrator-socket.
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: SOCKET creating new socket, connecting to /var/run/vmware/usbarbitrator-socket
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: SOCKET connect failed, error 2: No such file or directory
2016-03-05T06:35:05Z usbarb[1027049]: USBArb: Failed to connect to the existing arbitrator.
## after hostd restart and vpxa
2016-03-05T06:35:34Z usbarb[1027049]: USBArb: UsbArbPipeConnected: Connected to client, socket:12
2016-03-05T06:35:34Z usbarb[1027049]: USBArb: Client 1027130 connected (version: 6)
What I have tried; without success
# /etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop
# /etc/init.d/usbarbitrator start
# /etc/init.d/hostd restart
# /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
Any help is greatly appreciated.
