VMs on vVOL datastore inaccessible due to PE LUN not initialized on VASA Provider

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Multiple Virtual Machines on a vVOL datastore on one or more ESXi hosts are inaccessible.
• Some other VMs may still appear accessible and can be migrated to non-impacted hosts.
• /var/log/hostd.log reports that the datastore is inaccessible when accessing VM .vmx files, e.g.:
  
  warning hostd[2101149] [Originator@6876 sub=Vmsvc.vm:/vmfs/volumes/vvol:################-################/rfc4122.########-####-####-####-############/#########.vmx] UpdateStorageAccessibilityStatusInt: The datastore vvol::################-################ is not accessible
  
  
• The host is connected to the VASA Provider, but no PE LUN is detected for the array by vvold:
  
  esxcli storage vvol protocolendpoint list
  VvolFileSystemImpl: No PEs for array (########(SN:################)/com.########.#######:########-####-####-####-############)
  
   
• At a basic storage level the LUN is visible to ESXi and detected to be a PE LUN
  
  esxcli storage core device list txt
  
  naa.################################:
     Display Name: HUAWEI Fibre Channel Disk (naa.################################:)
     Has Settable Display Name: true
     Size: 0
     Device Type: Direct-Access
     Multipath Plugin: NMP
     Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.################################:
     ...
     Is VVOL PE: true
     Is Offline: false
     ....
  
  
  
  
• /var/log/vvold.log reports repeated attempts to initialize the PE LUN as protocol endpoint for the back storage container:
  
  2025-02-10T14:26:08.863Z info vvold[4107762] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] HostManager::AddOrUpdatePE PE lookup (
  --> SCSI PE, ID (host: naa.################################, vasa: Not yet initialized) (accessible, configured)
  -->  Lun Id: naa.################################)
  
  
• The issue persists after ESXi host reboot

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
  VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Resolution

While the PE LUN is accessible as a LUN, it is not operational level as a PE LUN for the VASA Provider and vVOL storage container to the impacted ESXi hosts.

Please engage your storage vendor support to investigate and resolve the issue at the storage level.