Expanding a disk size to 16 TB shows the error "The capacity exceeds the maximum virtual disk size for the datastore" on NFS4.1 datastore.
Article ID: 423563
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
Symptoms:
- Expanding a disk size to 16 TB shows the error
"The capacity exceeds the maximum virtual disk size for the datastore"on NFS4.1 datastore. - There is ample space available on the NFS 4.1 datastore.
Environment
VMware vCenter 7.x
VMware vCenter 8.x
NetApp storage
Cause
The reason why the expansion the disk size to 16 TB fail because the "Maximum File Size" and "Maximum Virtual Disk Size" on NFS datastore is set to less than 16 TB.
When navigating to the NFS datastore properties, the user expect to see the "Maximum File Size" and "Maximum Virtual Disk Size" as less than 16 TB. This is not a hard limit of the NFS protocol itself, but rather a reflection of the underlying file system on the NAS (Storage Array).
When vCenter queries the NFS datastore and query about the the largest file NAS can handle, The NAS responds with: "16 TB." and vSphere applies its safety margin and displays: "15.97 TB."
Now because the maximum file size is 15.97 TB, when the user try to create 16 TB or more, the operation fails because of the hard limit set by the storage.
Resolution
- Check storage configuration: Check the NAS storage configuration as the "Maximum File Size" can be changed from there. The user need to take assistance from the storage vendor.
- In-Guest Striping: Create multiple 15 TB VMDKs and use the Guest OS (Windows Disk Management or Linux LVM) to "Span" or "Stripe" them into one large greater than 16 TB+ volume.
- Switch to VMFS: If user storage supports iSCSI or Fibre Channel, moving to a VMFS-6 datastore will immediately raise your limit to 62 TB per disk without any limitation.
Additional Information
NOTE: When the "Maximum File Size" is changed from the NAS storage side, the user need to remount the datastore to reflect the changes on the vCenter.
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