ESXi local datastores are unavailable after installation of EMC PowerPath

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When installing EMC PowerPath, you experience these symptoms:

• Local datastores are not claimed by any Multipathing Plug-In (MPP)
• Local datastores are missing
• This issue is observed in environments using HP RAID controllers that are using the HPSA driver

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Cause

After installing EMC PowerPath, the local datastores are not claimed by any Multipathing Plug-In (MPP). When claim rules are run and a path matches a claim rule, that path is offered to the MPP.

In vSphere 5.1, if the MPP returns a failure, that path will be matched with other claim rules and if there is a match, the path will be offered to the MPP in those claim rules. If a path is not claimed by any MPP, it will always be offered to NMP due to the catch-all claim rule.

In vSphere 5.5, however, if a path is not claimed by any MPP, the path will not be offered to NMP. This causes local datastores to not be visible to the host.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.5 Update 1, available at VMware Downloads. For more information, see the VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 1 Release Notes.

Additional Information

EMC claimrule 290 cannot be be deleted or modified as it is reloaded upon reboot. The only way to work around it is by pre-emptively installing a claimrule to claim the devices first. To work around this issue, use a claim rule that takes the devices from the driver and passes them to NMP. This can be done by an HPSA claim rule.

Note: Change the claim rule before the installation of EMC PowerPath.

1. Uninstall PowerPath if it is already installed.
2. To add a claim rule, run this command:
   
   localcli storage core claimrule add -r 102 -P NMP -t transport -R sas
   
   
3. To load a claim rule, run this command:
   
   localcli storage core claimrule load
   
   
4. Install PowerPath.
5. Reboot the host.

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EMC PowerPath をインストール後、ESXiホストのローカルデータストアが利用できなくなる