Understanding the ESX/ESXi log message: SCSILinuxAbortCommands

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article describes symptoms for a class of storage-related problems, and gives direction for troubleshooting them.

Symptoms:

• Storage operations to the storage controller cited in the log message fail
• Virtual machines or other processes dependent on the storage controller cited in the log message fail
• The VMkernel logs on an ESX/ESXi host contain repeated messages similar to:
  
  WARNING: SCSILinuxAbortCommand - The driver failed to call scsi_done from its abort handler and yet it returned SUCCESS
WARNING: SCSILinuxAbortCommands Failed, Driver DriverName, for ControllerName
  

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Cause

The log messages from SCSILinuxAbortCommand and SCSILinuxAbortCommands generally indicate that an abort of an in-flight SCSI command was attempted and that the attempt failed. This generally follows a timeout or other error condition.

If the message is seen once, it may indicate that the SCSI command already completed successfully. If these messages repeat, it may indicate that the storage controller or device is unable to abort the command as requested and that repeated attempts to abort the command are also failing.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Review the contents of the VMkernel logs for storage-related log messages. From the SCSILinuxAbortCommands log line, identify the storage driver and device which is encountering the issue.
   
   Example: In this log line
   
   WARNING: SCSILinuxAbortCommands Failed, Driver ACMEStorageDriver, for vmhba3
   
   the storage controller is identified as vmhba3. The storage driver named ACMEStorageDriver is responsible for communication with the storage controller.
   
   
2. Review the integrity of the storage controller identified in step 1, and of its backing disks. For example, if this is a local RAID controller, check the integrity of the RAID set using the hardware platform's management tools. For more information on identifying storage devices, see Identifying disks when working with VMware ESX (1014953).
   
   
3. Review surrounding log messages for any messages from the same driver as identified in step 1. These may provide more context for the cause of the failure.
   
   Example: You may see a line that looks like this:
   
   ACMEStor: ABORT sn SSSS cmd=0x28 retries=0
   
   This line again references the driver at issue, and indicates the command that was aborted. Search the Knowledge Base for any log messages from the storage driver to identify potential causes.

If you cannot determine why the command is aborting, file a support request with VMware Support and note this KB Article ID (2000641) in the problem description. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request.

Additional Information

Identifying disks when working with VMware ESXi/ESX