NetApp EF300 volumes not visible to ESXi host - Netapp sees the host hba and storage volume/lun assigned to ESXi host. Host not able to see the storage volume.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When creating a new volume on NetApp EF300 array,  ESXi 8.0.3 host is unable to see the newly created lun

Environment

NetApp EF300 NVME Array  using FC not ISCSI
ESXi 8.0.3

 

Cause

By default the NetApp EF300 creates a lun with a 4k block size over a FC connection. This is not recognized by the ESXi host.  You must manually change the block size to 512k in order for the volume to be seen by the ESXi host.  For ISCSI connection the array uses a default  512k block size.

Resolution

When creating a new volume on NetApp EF300 array over FC, change the block size to 512k from the default value of 4k.

The ESXi host should then be able to see the volume when performing a rescan of storage

Additional Information

The default block size for a NetApp EF300 depends on the type of connection:
FC-type: The default block size is 4K
iSCSI-type: The default block size is 512 bytes 

The block size, also known as the sector size, can be configured using the CLI or the GUI. The correct block size must be set during volume creation, and the system may suggest a default value. The block size is determined by the type of drives selected for the volume group or pool. For example, if a volume group is created using drives that write to 512-byte blocks, then only 512-byte block volumes can be created.