Dell PowerVault MD3600i/MD3620i/MD3600f/MD3620f storage arrays configured with VMware ESX/ESXi fail

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Creating a VMFS datastore on a Dell MD3600i, MD3620i, MD3600f, or MD3620f fails
• You see the error:
  
  Call "HostDatastoreSystem.CreateVmfsDatastore" for object "ha-datastoresystem" on ESXi "Host Name" failed.
  
  
• This issue occurs when LUNs are present in the vSphere Client and vCenter Server under Configuration > Storage Adapters.

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable

Resolution

This issue is has been resolved in ESXi 4.1 Update 3. For more information, see VMware ESXi 4.1, Patch ESXi410-201208201-UG: Updates the VMware ESXi 4.1 Firmware (2020374).

To work around this issue if you are using a Dell MD3600i/MD3620i or MD3600f/MD3620f array in your ESXi/ESX environment, you must add a claim rule to the ESXi/ESX host.

To add a claim rule:

1. Log into the ESXi/ESX host as root.
   
   
2. Run this command:
   
   
   • For Dell MD3600i/MD3620i:
     
     esxcli nmp satp addrule -V DELL -M MD36xxi -s VMW_SATP_LSI
     
     
   • For Dell MD3600f/MD3620f:
     
     esxcli nmp satp addrule -V DELL -M MD36xxf -s VMW_SATP_LSI
     
     

Note: You must reboot the host for the changes to take effect.

• After rebooting the host, you must reload the rule with the correct PSP:
  
  esxcli nmp satp addrule -V DELL -M MD36xxf -s VMW_SATP_LSI --psp="VMW_PSP_MRU"
  

Additional Information

For more information, see Adding an MD3600i/MD3620i to the ESX Rule Set (Appendix A) section in the Dell™ PowerVault™ MD32xxi/MD36xxi Deployment Guide for VMware ESX 4.1 Server.

VMware ESXi 4.1, Patch ESXi410-201208201-UG: Updates the VMware ESXi 4.1 Firmware
Dell PowerVault MD3600i/MD3620i/MD3600f/MD3620f 存储数列配置 VMware ESX/ESXi 失败
VMware ESX/ESXi を使用して構成された Dell PowerVault MD3600i/MD3620i/MD3600f/MD3620f ストレージ アレイで障害が発生する