VMFS datastore gone, looking to see if the datastore is recoverable

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Datastore presented by a Dell array has become inaccessible, but the LUN is still presented to the host. Attempting to import it shows no signature.

Environment

ESXi 7.x

ESXi 8.x

Resolution

Need to verify the following details about the Datastore.

 

Check if Device backing for the datastore is missing.

• To check the device backing of a datastore in vCenter, navigate to the datastore's "Configure" tab, then select "Device Backing" to view the underlying storage device and its details, including the LUN ID.

Under the storage devices of the Host it is reporting as not consumed.

• To check what is the Storage device's datastore status go to ESXi host > Configure > Storage devices > Select the LUN in question > Under the Datastore field it show either "name of the Datastore" if there is a Datastore created on the volume Or it will be listed as "Not Consumed".

Verify if the partition on the volume exists.

• Follow the KB: Using partedUtil command line disk partitioning utility on ESXi

Ran VOMA check and confirm if there is LVM Magic on the volume.

• Follow the KB to run VOMA check command : Using vSphere On-disk Metadata Analyzer (VOMA) to check VMFS metadata consistency

 

If there is no Device backing, Volume listed as not consumed, no partition existing on the volume and no LVM magic on the volume.

If all the above aspects checks out then customer need to recover the Datastore from Backup and it is not possible to mount the datastore back to the ESXi host.

Additional Information

Using partedUtil command line disk partitioning utility on ESXi

Using vSphere On-disk Metadata Analyzer (VOMA) to check VMFS metadata consistency

Mount a Datastore with ESXCLI