Requirements when replacing disks in a vSAN cluster
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Requirements when replacing disks in a vSAN cluster

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Article ID: 327048

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

Guidance on replacing disk drives in vSAN environments. 
 
Impact/Risks:
Failure to follow requirements may result in undesired operation with outcomes ranging from poor performance up to and including data loss.

Symptoms:
One or more disks have failed in a vSAN cluster, requiring replacement.

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.x

Resolution

Before replacing a failed disk in a vSAN cluster, ensure the following: 
  • Disk must be certified for use with vSAN per the vSAN Compatibility Guide 
    • Cache disk replacements must be certified for cache use
    • Disk must be certified for vSAN configuration in use (hybrid/all-flash)
  • Disk capacity should ideally be the same as the one being replaced. 
    • If the same size is not available, the next size up is acceptable
  • Disk performance and endurance classes must be the same or higher when compared to the original disk
See Identifying specific disk failure in a vSAN deduplication cluster for more information
See How to manually remove and recreate a vSAN disk group using esxcli for more information

When replacing a failed capacity tier disk without Deduplication and Compression make sure to remove the failed disk from the disk group prior to pulling the disk from the host. See Replace a Capacity Device for more details.

When replacing a failed cache tier disk or a capacity tier disk with Deduplication and Compression the entire disk group needs to be removed from vSAN prior to replacing the failed disk. See Replace a Flash Caching Device on a Host & Adding or Removing Disks with Deduplication and Compression for more details.