Failure to apply Host Profile due to missing VMKDUMP/Coredump File Configuration on ESXi Host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Host profile application fails on ESXi host with the error: "Cannot execute command to configure or query coredump files. Errors: No usable VMFS Volume found for Diagnostic File.
• The remediation operation related to Host Profiles fails.

Attempting to set the coredump to a file or coredump to partition fails with an error stating that no usable volume is available.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

This is due to the absence of a VMFS or VMFS-L volume, which is required to be configured as the location for the coredump file/partition and the default partition is not created during the ESXi installation.

Resolution

• Check for an available VMFS or VMFS-L partition/volume on the ESXi with the below command:

# esxcli storage filesystem list

• In the event no VMFS volume is used, copy the UUID for the VMFS-L LOCKER partition.
• Create a VMFS datastore core dump file by running the following command:

# esxcli system coredump file add -d <datastore_UUID> -f <File_Name>

 

If there is an error like Datastore LOCKER-UUID has insufficient free space, specify the size of the dump file using the flag -s SIZE_IN_MB

for ex: # esxcli system coredump file add -d UUID -f Host-FQDN -s 2000

 

This will create the vmkdump/coredump file

• Activate the core dump file for the host:

# esxcli system coredump file set -p "/datastore_UUID/vmkdump/File_Name"

 

Verify that there is an Active coredump partition by running this command:

# esxcli storage filesystem list