Error Message, "EXT2-fs warning: maximal mount count reached, running e2fsck is recommended"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The following error message is displayed on the service console:

EXT2-fs warning: maximal mount count reached, running e2fsck is recommended

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.0.x

Resolution

Do not ignore maximal mount count warnings that occur at system startup. Address this problem during the next server maintenance window either by running e2fsck on the affected file systems, or by adjusting the file system's mount count limits with tune2fs . Refer to the e2fsck and tune2fs man pages for usage details.

You can safely ignore the maximal mount count warnings that occur after system startup. These are generated by the refreshrd hourly cron job. This issue has been corrected in ESX Server versions 3.0.2 and higher.

To perform the disk check:

1. Log in to the ESX service console.
2. Issue the mount command and take note of which device is mounted on /.
3. Power down or suspend all virtual machines, or use VMotion to move them to another host.
4. Issue the reboot command .
5. On the boot menu, select Troubleshooting Mode (Service Console Only) and press E to edit the boot options.
6. On the next screen, select the kernel command line and press E again to edit the kernel command line.
7. Go to the end of the kernel command line and add the word single after a space.
8. Press Enter, and then press B to boot.
9. When you get to the command line, type the following command to re-mount the root file system in read-only mode:
   
   mount -o remount,ro -t ext3 <dev node> /
   
   For example:
   
   mount -o remount,ro -t ext3 /dev/cciss/c0d0p# /
   
   
10. To verify that the file system is mounted read-only, type touch /test; this should fail with a message like read-only filesystem.
11. Type e2fsck <device> to check the filesystem.
12. Type reboot to reboot the system.