PURE Storage VMFS volumes show 0 bytes capacity after re-attaching to ESXi host

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

 A vSphere cluster host (ESXi 8.0u3) shows PURE Storage VMFS6 volumes with 0-byte capacity. This typically occurs after a host has been moved between clusters or storage fabrics where volumes were administratively unmounted and detached.

• Datastores appear in the UI but report 0 Bytes. New volumes with different NAA IDs mount correctly.
  
• esxcli storage core device detached list  shows detached
  

Cause

The ESXi host preserves the "Detached" and "Unmounted" operational state persistently in its configuration. When the original NAA IDs are re-presented to the host, ESXi continues to honor the previous "detached" state. Because the device is logically "off," the storage daemon cannot read VMFS metadata, resulting in the default 0-byte capacity display.

Resolution

To restore visibility, the devices must be re-attached and then remounted, Run the following command via SSH or ESXi shell the host(s):

1. Identify Detached Devices: Run: esxcli storage core device detached list
2. Re-attach the NAA IDs: Run: esxcli storage core device set --state=on -d naa.<xxxx>
3. Rescan the Adapter: Run: esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all
4. Mount the Filesystem: Run: esxcli storage filesystem mount -l <Datastore_Name>

Re-enabling the device state allows the ESXi storage daemon to access the paths and read the VMFS header, which immediately populates the capacity data and allows the volume to be mounted.