vCenter events are spammed with Duplicate name 'slotsfile' entry in cache

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

"Duplicate name 'slotsfile' entry in cache" message appears on events page in vCenter and on ESXi hosts.

Environment

ESXi 6.7

ESXi 7.0

Cause

Storage IO Control uses a file on each datastore called a 'slotsfile'.

This file is accessed by multiple ESXi hosts simultaneously

If this file is corrupt or damage it can result in errors on the event panel.

Resolution

Follow the below steps in order to resolve the issue:

1. Search each datastore for the hidden 'slotsfile' file ../naa.##############
   
   

   /vmfs/volumes/DATASTORE_UUID/.naa.#################] ls -l
   total 128
   -rw-r-----    1 root     root          4992 Jun 26 06:50 slotsfile
   -rw-r-----    1 root     root          4992 Jun 26 06:50 slotsfile

    

2. At this point you can disable Storage IO Control on the datastore by following Enable Storage I/O Control and deselect the 'Enable Storage I/O Control' checkbox
   
   
3. Remove the 'slotsfiles' from the folder
   
   
4. Re-enable storage IO Control to see if a new individual 'slotsfile' is created. ref: Enable Storage I/O Control
   
   
5. Check vCenter events to see if the alert is gone
    

If the above does not fix the issue please check the Datastore for corrupt metadata region and the underlying media for errors.