Unable to claim a vSAN disk.
Article ID: 416971
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
Unable to claim an ineligible vSAN disk when adding to an existing disk group or creating a disk group with this device involved.
Environment
vSAN 8.X
vSAN 9.X
Cause
There is currently an existing partition on the disk, which can't be used for vSAN.
When querying the disk with this command, an already existing partition is on the disk already. Note: Please put in the naa of the device into the command that you are trying to claim
disk="/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.################################"; offset="128 2048"; echo $disk; partedUtil getptbl $disk; { for i in `echo $offset`; do echo "Checking offset found at $i:"; hexdump -n4 -s $((0x100000+(512*$i))) $disk; hexdump -n4 -s $((0x1300000+(512*$i))) $disk; hexdump -C -n 128 -s $((0x130001d + (512*$i))) $disk; done; } | grep -B 1 -A 5 d00d; echo "---------------------"
gpt
466945 255 63 7501476528
1 2048 20971519 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
2 62916608 83886079 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
3 125831168 209715199 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
4 293603328 7501475839 EBD0A0A2B9E5443387C068B6B72699C7 linuxNative 0
---------------------
Alternatively, this can be checked in the location on the ESXi host /dev/disks on a SSH session. If the naa device contains a number after the colon, then there is already a partition on the device.
See example below of device with no partition.
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Jul 27 16:40 vml.02000##################030 -> naa.##################011
Below is device with partition.
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Jul 27 16:40 vml.02000##################030 -> naa.##################011
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 Jul 27 16:40 vml.02000##################030:1 -> naa.##################011:1
Resolution
If the partition is not needed and doesn't contain important data, then proceed with disk deletion either by command line or through the GUI. It's recommended to put the host into maintenance mode when carrying out deletion.
Warning: This operation cannot be undone once initiated, ensure that the data on this disk is not required before proceeding.
partedUtil delete "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" 1
This can also be achieved through the vsphere interface.
- In the vSphere Client, navigate to the ESXi host.
- Click the Configure tab.
- Under Storage, click Storage Devices.
- Select one or more devices and click the Erase Partitions icon.
- Verify that the partition information you are erasing is not critical.
- Click OK to confirm your change.
The erase partition table will also display a partition on the device prior to deletion.
Additional Information
Feedback
