Prerequisites and limitations when using 256 PVSCSI disks in a virtual machine
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Prerequisites and limitations when using 256 PVSCSI disks in a virtual machine

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Article ID: 301189

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Best Practices, Caveats, and Interoperability when working with VM that has more than 60 VMDKs.


Symptoms:
This document describes the necessary information to use the 256 PVSCSI disks in a virtual machine.
To avoid the failures when using this feature, the user must aware of the below prerequisites and limitations:

 
Prerequisites:

To use this feature, the Virtual Machine’s hardware version must be 14 or higher.

The ESXi host must meet below recommended
performance data:

CPU: 2 CPUs with 28 cores per socket or above
Memory: 64GiB capacity or above
Physical Storage(Local Storage or Networked Storage):
IOPS Bandwidth Latency
Read >120000 >470MB/s <1080
usec
Write >110000 >470MB/s <1198 usec


Limitations:
       
Features not supported:
  • VMware vSphere Replication
  • Content Libraries
  • OVF Template Deployment/Export through UI
  • SRM VR mode (vSphere replication)
Features with limited supportive:
  • SRM only support ABR mode (Array-based replication)
  • Application quiesced snapshots supported for VM with less than 64 disks due to VSS limitations.
  • Storage vMotion and XvMotion may timeout when such large VM has snapshots.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

Currently, there is no resolution or workaround:
  • VMware vSphere Replication
  • Content Libraries


Workaround:
To work around this issue:
  1. OVF Template Deployment/Export through UI:
Workaround: Use PowerCLI Export-VApp/Import-VApp cmd-lets for templates export or Import.
  1. SRM VR mode (vSphere replication): 
Workaround: Use the Array-based replication mode when performing SRM operations.
  1. Storage vMotion and XvMotion timeout issue:
Workaround: Delete the snapshots before Storage vMotion and XvMotion.

Note: Please make sure all data has been backed up before deleting the snapshots.