Unable to create a disk group in vSAN Error(Failed to reserve disk <disk> with exception: Failed to read vSAN intent log Failed to open device /vmfs/devices/disks/<disk>)

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

When creating a new vSAN disk-group the following error occurs on creation. 

A general system error occurred: Failed to reserve disk <disk> with exception: Failed to read vSAN intent log Failed to open device /vmfs/devices/disks/<disk>

Environment

VMware vSAN (All Versions)

Cause

The physical DISK notated in the error is in an unhealthy state and we are not sending commands to the device or read from it. 

Example

From vmkernel.log 

2025-06-16T11:58:59.027Z cpu75:2098600)NVMEDEV:5349 Set name of ns 1 to t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################
2025-06-16T11:59:02.312Z cpu109:2098005)HPP: HppCreateDevice:3084: Created logical device 't10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################'.
2025-06-16T11:59:02.312Z cpu109:2098005)HPP: HppClaimPath:3959: Added path 'vmhba12:C0:T0:L0' to logical device 't10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################'. Total Path Count 1
2025-06-16T11:59:02.325Z cpu14:2098317)HPP: HppRegisterDevice:3373: Registering logical device with uid 't10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################'.
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu14:2098317)ScsiDevice: 4388: Computing hash based VML id on the string 'NVMe    WUS4BB076D7P3E3                         ################' for the device t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu14:2098317)ScsiDeviceIO: 9666: QErr is correctly set to 0x0 for device t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################.
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu14:2098317)WARNING: NvmeScsi: 172: SCSI opcode 0x1a (0x45bac23fb948) on path vmhba12:C0:T0:L0 to namespace t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################ failed with NVMe error status: 0x2
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu0:2097312)WARNING: ScsiDeviceIO: 4058: ModeSense 0x1a request failed - blocking page:0x1c subpage:0x2 t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu14:2098317)ScsiDeviceIO: 10173: Could not detect setting of sitpua for device t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################. Error Not supported.
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu48:2098607)WARNING: NvmeScsi: 158: SCSI opcode 0x28 (0x45bac23fb948) on path vmhba12:C0:T0:L0 to namespace t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################ failed with NVMe host error
2025-06-16T11:59:02.326Z cpu48:2098607)WARNING: HPP: HppThrottleLogForDevice:1136: Cmd 0x28 (0x45bac23fb948, 0) to dev "t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################" on path "vmhba12:C0:T0:L0" Failed:
2025-06-16T11:59:03.146Z cpu106:2098316)HPP: HppAttemptFailoverRequest:1396: Re-issuing first command for HPP device "t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################" (NO_CONNECT_ON_APD = CLEAR)
2025-06-16T11:59:04.146Z cpu106:2098316)HPP: HppAttemptFailoverRequest:1396: Re-issuing first command for HPP device "t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################" (NO_CONNECT_ON_APD = CLEAR)
2025-06-16T11:59:05.146Z cpu106:2098316)HPP: HppAttemptFailoverRequest:1396: Re-issuing first command for HPP device "t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################" (NO_CONNECT_ON_APD = CLEAR)

Device stats showing the Failed commands and read operations for the impacted disk.

esxcli storage core device stats get -d t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################

t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################
   Device: t10.NVMe____WUS4BB076D7P3E3_________________________################
   Successful Commands: 1625
   Blocks Read: 0
   Blocks Written: 0
   Read Operations: 0
   Write Operations: 0
   Reserve Operations: 8
   Reservation Conflicts: 0
   Failed Commands: 6558
   Failed Blocks Read: 0
   Failed Blocks Written: 0
   Failed Read Operations: 684
   Failed Write Operations: 0
   Failed Reserve Operations: 31

Resolution

Proceed with the following actions for the physical disk in question.

1. Re-seat the drive and attempt to claim the device for vSAN.
   
   
2. If the Re-seat does not correct the issue move the drive to a different physical slot and attempt to claim the disk again.

If the disk is able to be claimed by vSAN after moving it to a different physical slot engage your server hardware vendor to investigate the slot where the disk was not responding correctly. 

If the disk can not be claimed after being moved to a new physical slot engage your server hardware vendor and replace the physical disk.