Advanced setting "ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation" for persistent scratch location is reverted to the default value after ESXi 6.x host reboot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Providing steps to avoid the persistent scratch location reverting after a reboot of an ESXi host.

Symptoms:
The advanced setting ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation for persistent scratch location is reverted to the default value after ESXi 6.x host reboot.

Note: Scratch space is configured automatically during installation or first boot of an ESXi host, and is not required to be manually configured. During installation, ESXi creates a 4 GB FAT16 partition on the target device if there is sufficient space, and if the device is considered Local. A /scratch symlink is then created in the root directory which points to the 4 GB partition. The default value of ScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation is the partition that /scratch symlink points to.

For more information, see Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi 8.x/7.x/6.x 

Cause

This is caused due to an Emulex driver creating a /scratch directory of its own.

Resolution

Install an Emulex iSCSI  driver version later than 11.2.x. 

For more information on the setting and creating a persistent scratch location, see ScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation is set to /scratch after upgrading to ESXi 6.x 

Workaround:

• Downgrade the elxiscsi driver manually from the 11.2.x to 11.1.x
• Disable the 11.2.x elxiscsi driver
• Remove the 11.2.x elxiscsi driver 
• Alternatively follow the steps provided in Configuring syslog on ESXi and configure the advanced setting Syslog.global.logDir with a datastore in the format: [DatastoreName] DirectoryName

Note: Ensure every ESXi host has a uniquely named directory on the storage.

Additional Information