Deploying a virtual machine with more than 7 disks using PowerCLI cmdlet New-VM fails with error

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Deploying a Virtual Machine with more than 7 virtual disks in PowerCLI by using the cmdlet New-VM with multiple values for the parameter -DiskGB fails with error:

PowerCLI C:\> New-VM -Name sitest -ResourcePool esx002.vcloud.local -DiskGB 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 -DiskStorageFormat "Thin"
New-VM : 29/06/2016 13:55:17 New-VM The operation for the entity "vm" failed with the following message: "A specified parameter was not correct:
unitNumber"
At line:1 char:1
+ New-VM -Name sitest -ResourcePool esx002.vcloud.local -DiskGB 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 -D ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [New-VM], InvalidArgument
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_TaskServiceImpl_CheckServerSideTaskUpdates_OperationFailed,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.NewVM

New-VM : 29/06/2016 13:55:17 New-VM 29/06/2016 13:55:17 New-VM The operation for the entity "vm" failed with the following message: "A
specified parameter was not correct: unitNumber"
At line:1 char:1
+ New-VM -Name sitest -ResourcePool esx002.vcloud.local -DiskGB 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 -D ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [New-VM], InvalidArgument
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_TaskServiceImpl_CheckServerSideTaskUpdates_OperationFailed,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.NewVM

Environment

VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.0

Cause

Disks created using the PowerCLI cmdlet New-VM in combination with the parameter -DiskGB are assigned consecutive node IDs: SCSI 0:0 for the first disk, SCSI 0:1 for the second disk and so on. This works fine for node IDs up to SCSI 0:6.

The ID SCSI 0:7 is reserved for the virtual SCSI controller and hence it is not available for disks.

The PowerCLI cmdlet New-VM does not have the option to define the SCSI controller on which new disks are created or the node IDs to which the disks are assigned to.

Resolution

This is a limitation of the PowerCLI cmdlet New-VM. Deploying a virtual machine by limiting 7 values for -DiskGB will be successful.

To deploy virtual machines with more than 7 virtual disks in PowerCLI:

• Create new virtual machine using cmdlet New-VM with 7 values for -DiskGB parameter.
• Use the cmdlet New-HardDisk to add more disks to the virtual machine.