Identify if a datastore is force mounted on an ESXi host.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This articles details how to identify if a datastore has been force mounted on an ESXi host (where LUN was detected as snapshot).

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Resolution

• To identify if a datastore is force mounted on an ESXi host, run:

  $ vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/info <datastore name> | grep -A2 forceMountedInfo| grep -E "force|persist|mounted|}'"

  If the datastore is not force mounted, this command will return:

  forceMountedInfo = (vim.host.ForceMountedInfo) null,

  If the datastore is force mounted, this command will return output similar to:

   forceMountedInfo = (vim.host.ForceMountedInfo) {
           persist = true,
           mounted = true
  },

  (For a force mount which does not persist after host reboot, persist will equal false.)
  
  
• To check all datastores on a host for force mount, run:

  $ esxcfg-scsidevs -m | grep -v OSDATA | awk '{print $NF}' | while read i; do echo $i; vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/info $i| grep -A2 forceMountedInfo| grep -E "force|persist|mounted|}'"; done

  Alternatively, whether a datastore is force mounted can be confirmed as follow:
   

  $ esxcfg-info -a | grep "Is Force Mounted" -B13 

  Output will be similar to:

              |----Head Extent........................................naa.#############################0:1
              |----Console Path......................................./vmfs/volumes/########-########-##00-############
              |----Block Size.........................................1048576
              |----Total Blocks.......................................122624
              |----Logical Disk Block Size............................512
              |----Physical Disk Block Size...........................512
              |----isSw512e...........................................false
              |----Blocks Used........................................3500
              |----Size...............................................128580583424
              |----Usage..............................................3670016000
              |----Lock Mode..........................................Public Vmfs5
              |----Major Version......................................6
              |----Minor Version......................................82
              |----Is Force Mounted...................................true

Additional Information

For more information on force mount of datastores, see Troubleshooting LUNs detected as snapshot LUNs in vSphere.