"Failed to create VDFS" error on vSAN File Services while creating NFS/SMB share

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vSAN File Services appears healthy.

• The vSAN Storage Policy in use contains a special character ("="), e.g., "Test, FTT=1" .

• Attempts to create NFS/SMB shares fail with the following error in the Web Client:

         "Cannot complete the operation. See the event log for details. Failed to create VDFS"

• On the vSAN Host where the share creation is attempted, the below events are shown up.

/var/run/log/vsanmgmt.log:

2021-10-19T14:25:44.398Z info vsand[8556832] [opID=6605cbbd-W10123-f496 VsanFileServiceSystemImpl::CreateFileShare] Creating the file share fslogix-test on this host
2021-10-19T14:25:44.402Z info vsand[8556832] [opID=6605cbbd-W10123-f496 VsanTaskTrackerImpl::CreateAndMonitorTask] Created task vmodlTask-ha-host-1528880965
2021-10-19T14:25:44.505Z info vsand[8771101] [opID=6605cbbd-W10123-f496-W772 VsanFileServiceSystemImpl::_CreateFileShare] Creating the endpoint on this host for share fslogix-test
2021-10-19T14:25:44.545Z error vsand[8771101] [opID=6605cbbd-W10123-f496-W772 VsanFileServiceSystemImpl::_CreateFileShare] Failed to create the file share fslogix-test Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/lib/vmware/vsan/perfsvc/VsanFileServiceSystemImpl.py", line 2300, in _CreateFileShare   File "/usr/lib/vmware/vsan/perfsvc/VDFSEndpointMgrImpl.py", line 74, in VDFSEndpointCreate   File "/usr/lib/vmware/vsan/perfsvc/VDFSEndpointOperator.py", line 198, in CreateEndpoints   File "/usr/lib/vmware/vsan/perfsvc/VDFSStubImpl.py", line 149, in CreateVolume Exception: Failed to create VDFS file system
2021-10-19T14:25:44.546Z error vsand[8771101] [opID=6605cbbd-W10123-f496-W772 VsanFileServiceSystemImpl::_FailTask] Failing task due to: Failed to create VDFS file system
 

/var/run/log/vdfsd-server.log :

2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|SERVER: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000: init starting.
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|SERVER: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000: init done.
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|Extra argument: [2] = '-policy0=(("spbmProfileId" '6ac8103e-955f-4702-826f-caadcb19499b' )("spbmProfileGenerationNumber" l+2 )("spbmProfileName" 'Test, FTT=1' )("hostFailuresToTolerate" i1  ) ("replicaPreference" "Capacity"  ) ("stripeWidth" i1  )  )'  
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017| Bad arguments: found unrecognized arguments
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|SERVER: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000: exit starting
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|SERVER: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000: stopping -- INIT
2021-10-19T14:25:44.536Z|f-0-000000017|SERVER: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000: state is STOPPING (was INIT).

 

Environment

VMware vSAN 8.x

VMware vSAN 7.x

Cause

vSAN File Services is unable to create NFS/SMB shares because the VDFS layer detects 'bad,' 'extra,' or 'unrecognized' arguments—specifically the '=' symbol in the vSAN Storage Policy name shown above (e.g., 'Test, FTT=1').

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter and ESXi 8.0 Update 1.

Workaround:

• Remove if any special characters from the vSAN Storage Policy name in use.
• Alternatively, use the default 'vSAN Default Storage Policy'.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

 vSAN File Services will not be able to create any File Service shares, even if it appears to be properly configured and all vSAN Health Tests show green.