vCenter Server Storage Status displays as Unknown

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• The Storage Status section in vCenter Server shows a status of Unknown. For example:
  
  
• This issue may originally occur with specific datastores, but may eventually affect all datastores.
• Newly created datastores, show as unknown but while pre-existing datastores show as Normal.

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Resolution

The Storage Status is reported by the Datastore usage on disk alarm, which monitors datastore disk usage. This is a preconfigured alarm and it triggers automatically when problems are detected. This issue may occur if you have disabled the action for this alarm.

 

If you enable the Alarm, the proper alert status is visible. To enable the alarm:

1. Click the vCenter Server level at the top of vSphere Client Inventory.
2. Click the Alarms tab and select Definitions.
3. Right-click on alarm and click Edit Settings.
4. Re-enable the Datastore Usage on Disk alarm.

 

Note: If your problem still exists after trying the steps in this article, file a support request with VMware Support and note this Knowledge Base article ID (vCenter Server Storage Status displays as Unknown) in the problem description. For more information, see How to Submit a Support Request.

Additional Information

When an object is selected in the Inventory, you can identify its disabled alarm actions:

• In the General pane of the object's Summary tab.
• In the Alarm Actions Disabled pane of the Alarms tab.
• In the Alarm Actions column of the object's child object tabs. For example, if you select a host in the inventory, the Virtual Machines tab displays whether alarm actions are enabled or disabled for each virtual machine on the host.

The alarm for datastore disk usage is enabled at the datacenter level.