Creating a new datastore fails with the error: An error occurred during host configuration

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot create a new datastore from vCenter Server or directly from the vSphere Client
• Creating a new datastore fails
• The Add Storage Wizard reports the error:
  
  An error occurred during host configuration.
  Call “HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions” for object “ha-datastoresystem” on ESXi “xxx.xxx.xxx.xx″ failed.
  An internal error occurred in the vsphere client.

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x

Cause

This issue may occur if:

• The size of the LUN is more than 2TB - 512 bytes. The maximum LUN size in vSphere 4 is 2TB - 512 bytes.
• The LUN being presented was used as an RDM earlier and does not have a valid partition table.
• The LUN being presented was used as a disk device on an other operating system and does not have a valid partition table.
• The LUN contains a GPT partition that cannot be removed.

Resolution

To prevent this issue:

• Ensure that the LUN size is less than 2TB - 512 bytes or 2047GB. If the LUN is larger then 2TB - 512 bytes, delete it from your Storage Array and recreate it with a size less than the 2TB - 512 bytes limit.
  
  
• If the disk was used by another operating system in the past (I.E.: it was an RDM, or Linux, FreeBSD, or other filesystem) or contains a GPT partition, you must delete the partition information.For more information, see Troubleshooting the Add Storage Wizard error: Unable read partition information from this disk error
  
  
• For information on VMFS-5, see vSphere 5 FAQ: VMFS-5