ESX Server Installer Is Unable to Format VMFS File Systems

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

During ESX Server installation, if the storage controller returns an unrecoverable error for any LUN attached to the ESX Server host, partitions selected as VMFS partitions are not formatted during the installation. An unrecoverable error is returned when there is a hardware failure, such as damage to a drive.

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x

Resolution

Ensure that the hardware error has been corrected, and use one of the following methods to create VMFS partitions after installation:

• Use the VI Client to create a VMFS datastore.

• From the ESX Server service console, use vmkfstools to format a VMFS partition. The command syntax is:

  vmkfstools -C vmfs3 -S <filesystem-label> <vmhbaV:T:L:P>