Extending a VMFS datastore by adding an extent fails when the datastore spans 32 extents

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

A VMFS datastore spans 32 extents.

Extending the datastore by adding an a further extent fails.  

Environment

VMware vSphere 7.0.x
VMware vSphere 8.0.x

Cause

32 is the maximum number of extents over which a VMFS datastore can be spanned.

This is a hard limit.

Resolution

Create a new replacement VMFS datastore of the required size, spanned across no more than 32 extents. 

Creating the datastore across a smaller number of larger extents would allow for future expansion of the datastore by adding an extent.  

Additional Information

See Increasing VMFS Datastore Capacity