NFS mount with NetApp fails with the error: failed to open volume: /VMFS/XXXX error

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When an ESX NFS client is allowed through the firewall and a root access is permitted on the NetApp array, you experience these symptoms:

• Mounting a volume on a NetApp array using NFS fails in the vSphere Client
• You see the error:
  
  failed to open volume: /VMFS/XXXX error
   
• You can vmkping the NetApp array
• Another NFS export on this ESX host works properly

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x

Resolution

This issue may occur if the volume name on the NetApp array has an underscore or special characters.

 

To resolve this issue, ensure that the volume name does not have an underscore or special characters.

 

If changing the export name or removing the underscores does not resolve this issue, enable the qtree, without any quotas, and try again.

 

If enabling the qtree does not work, the volume name must be recreated without underscores in the name.

 

If modifications, such as root access or volume name change, are made, follow this procedure on all ESX hosts:

1. Un-register any virtual machines registered from the NFS Server.
2. Unmount and remount all NFS datastores from the ESX hosts.
3. Re-register virtual machines.

Note: It may be necessary to remove and recreate the NFS export on the NetApp array.