Enabling clustering services inside the Guest for for VMs with shared RDMs fails with error "Failed verifying removal of any persistent reservation"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Configuring clustering services for the VMs with shared RDMs fails during validation process.
• Performing storage validation check from "Failover Cluster Manager" wizard inside the Guest on Windows Server 2022 fails with error:
  Failed while verifying removal of any Persistent Reservation on physical disk {########-####-####-####-############) at node ##.###
  
  
  

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when RDM disks added using virtual compatibility mode.

RDMs used as clustered disk resources must be added using physical compatibility mode.

Cause validation:

• Navigate to host > VM > Edit settings. Expand the affected RDM disk. The compatibility mode show as "Virtual"
  

Resolution

Change the RDM disks from virtual to Physical compatibility mode using below procedure:

Note:

• Broadcom recommends to take backup of VM configuration before performing these steps.
• To change from virtual to physical compatibility mode, ensure there are no snapshots on the VM.
• If the RDMs are larger than 2TB, must use the vSphere Client.

1. 1. Power off both the virtual machines:
      • Power off secondary VM first.
      • Power off the primary VM later.
   2. Remove the existing RDM from both VMs:
      • Right-click the primary virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
      • Note the SCSI device that the RDM is using (for example, SCSI0:1)
      • Remove the RDM hard disk from the virtual machine, ensure that the Delete from Disk option is selected, and then click OK.
        Note: Unlike VMDK files, the Delete from Disk option removes only the RDM pointer files rdmp.vmdk. Data on the RDM remains intact.
      • Repeat the procedure for secondary VM.
   3. Re-add the RDM to the Primary VM:
      • Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
      • Add the RDM back to the primary virtual machine as a new disk and select Physical compatibility mode. Ensure to use the SCSI device noted under step 2.
   4. Re-add the RDM to the Secondary VM:
      • Right-click the Secondary VM > Edit Settings.
      • Click Add New Device > Existing Hard Disk.
      • Navigate to the Primary VM's folder and select the newly created RDM pointer file.
      • Ensure the SCSI ID matches the Primary VM.
      • Click OK.
   5. Power on the Virtual Machines:
      1. Power on the Primary VM first.
      2. Power on the Secondary VM later.
   6. Validation:
      • Re-run the Failover Cluster Validation wizard inside the Guest OS. The persistent reservation check should now pass.

Additional Information

Switching a VM disk of Raw Device Mapping(RDM) between physical and virtual compatibility modes in ESXi

Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) with shared disks on VMware vSphere 8.x: Guidelines for supported configurations