Adding a gatekeeper LUN to a virtual machine as a physical RDM fails with the error: Invalid configuration for device "0"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Adding a gatekeeper LUN as a physical RDM to a virtual machine in vCenter Server fails
• You see the error:
  
  Invalid configuration for device "0"

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x

Resolution

Note: The ESX/ESXi host considers any LUNs from a Symmetrix storage array with a capacity of 50MB or less as management LUNs. These LUNs are also known as pseudo or gatekeeper LUNs. Gatekeeper LUNs are Management LUNs that appear in vCenter Server and ESX as LUNs of size 0. Symmetrix uses LUN 0 as a gatekeeper LUN, which is marked as a pseudo-device.

This issue is resolved in vSphere 4.1 Update 2. To download vSphere 4.1 Update 2, see the VMware Download Center.

To workaround this issue when you do not want to upgrade, connect directly to the ESX host using the vSphere Client and add the gatekeeper LUN as a physical RDM to the virtual machine.