Virtual machine actions like Storage vMotion or Disk extension fail due to "unsupported or invalid" adapter-type for disk

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Storage vMotion fails with below error on vSphere UI:

A general system error occurred: Failed to start disk migrations.

• With respect to Storage vMotion, in the vmware.log file of the affected virtual machine entries similar to below are seen:

/vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_directory>/vmware.log

W110: SVMotion: scsiX:X: SVMotionDiskGetSrcInfo: unsupported adapter type for source disk.

• Both both online and offline Disk Extension on virtual machine from vSphere fails with error similar to below:

A specified parameter was not correct: spec.deviceChange.device The disk extend operation failed: One of the parameters supplied is invalid 

• With regards to Disk Extension, in the vmware.log file of the affected virtual machine entries similar to below are seen:

/vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_directory>/vmware.log

DISKLIB-LIB_MISC: DiskLib_GetAdapterType: Invalid adapter type.

DiskLibGrowInt: Unable to get adaptertype for '/vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_directory>/<vm_hardDisk>.vmdk': One of the parameters supplied is invalid

DISKLIB-LIB: Failed to grow disk '/vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_directory>/<vm_hardDisk>.vmdk' : One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1).

DiskLib_PreGrowExtent failed: One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1)

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x , 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the ddb.adapterType in the disk descriptor (vmdk) file has been modified with a value other than lsilogic or buslogic . Even setting the value to pvscsi may affect storage vMotion.

While the exact cause is unknown, suspicion lies if the virtual machine has been imported through any converter (P2v or V2V) or cloned/deployed from any template. 

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the ddb.adapterType on the descriptor .vmdk file needs to be configured with lsilogic or buslogic

• SSH as root to one of the ESXi host that has access to the datastore where the virtual disk resides.
• Navigate to the virtual machine directory
• Open the descriptor .vmdk file using vi editior after taking a backup copy of the .vmdk file
  • cp <disk_name>.vmdk <disk_name>.vmdk.old
  • vi <disk_name>.vmdk
• Press "i" to go into insert mode
• Replace the value of ddb.adapterType with lsilogic or buslogic as shown below:
  • ddb.adapterType = lsilogic
• Save the file and exit the vi editor
  • Press Escape 
  • Type wq! and hit Enter
• Repeat the above steps for all the affected vmdk files
• Migrate the virtual machine to another ESXi host to reload the vmx process.
• Attempt the workflow of Storage migration or Disk expansion that was facing the issue
• In case the issue still persists, reboot the virtual machine.

Additional Information

Adjusting the virtual SCSI adapter type in a VMDK file