Unable to create or expand a vmdk disk located on a NFS datastores to size more than 2TB on a Vcenter server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Creating or expanding a vmdk disk located on a NFS datastores to a size of more than 2TB from within the vCenter UI fails with the error “The capacity exceeds the maximum virtual disk size for the datastore”.

• VM relocation may fail with the below error:

File [Datastore_Name] VM_Directory/VM_Name.vmdk is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore 'Datastore_Name'

• The maximum file size is not limited to 2 TB in the NFS server configuration.  
• Performing the same task of creating or expanding a vmdk disk located on a NFS datastores to a size of more than 2TB from from the host UI works as expected. 
• The maxVirtualDiskCapacity parameter reports value of 2 TB 

# vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/info DataStore_Name

(vim.host.NasDatastoreInfo) {
   name = "DataStore_Name",
   url = "/vmfs/volumes/DataStore_UUID",
   freeSpace = 39515759050752,
   maxFileSize = 2199023255552,
   maxVirtualDiskCapacity = 2199023255040

• Where DataStore_Name is the name of the datastore in question, and the DataStore_UUID reflect the UUID of the same datastore. 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere 7.0.x

Cause

• The issue is seen when the NFS server is brought down and while it is down ESX server is rebooted. This causes the max file size to be set to the default value of 2TB.
• Once the NFS server is back up, the max file size stays same and is not updated.

Resolution

The fix for the issue is included in vSphere 8.0.1 and later

Workaround:

Restarting hostd and vpxa service on all ESXi hosts attached to the datastore would resolve the issue temporarily, which can be performed by following the steps below:

1.  Login to the ESXi host via SSH.

2. Check hostd and vpxa status by using the command

/etc/init.d/hostd status
/etc/init.d/vpxa status

3. Restart hostd and vpxa service by using the command

/etc/init.d/hostd restart
/etc/init.d/vpxa restart

 

 

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

Restarting the hostd service doesn't affect the running VMs on the host, however it will cause disruption in the connection between the host and the vCenter while the service is restarting.