Failed cache tier disk, vSAN precheck failing with "General VSAN error" when trying to remove disk group

Products

• VMware vSAN 7.x

Issue/Introduction

Absent disk showing up in vCenter Configure -> vSAN disk management.

Absent disk is a cache tier disk

Trying to delete the disk group (DG) with either Ensure Accessibility or Full Data Migration results in "General VSAN error"

Environment

VMware vSAN OSA (All Versions)

Cause

When trying to delete a failed disk group with either "Ensure Accessibility" or "Full Data Migration", a "General VSAN error" occurs because the disks cannot be accessed as they're in a failed state.

Resolution

Remove the disk group from vCenter with option "No Data Migration".

 

If this fails on vCenter, try to remove the disk from the command line on an SSH session on ESXi host.

- Ensure that none of the disks in this disk group are showing as "In CMMDS" before proceeding.

esxcli vsan storage list

 

Remove the reference to the disk group by running this command, where the UUID is the vSAN UUID of the cache disk, and of the vSAN disk group.

esxcli vsan storage remove -u ########-####-####-####-########

 

If it still fails, follow KB Unable to delete Absent Disk with UUID via vSphere UI or command line to use the ESXi Command Line to remove the disk.