Identifying ESXi boot LUNs for Boot From SAN configurations
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Identifying ESXi boot LUNs for Boot From SAN configurations

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Article ID: 342630

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to identify boot LUNs for ESXi Boot From SAN configurations.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

To identify boot LUNs for ESXi Boot From SAN configurations, first find what LUNs are being used by the bootbank and the altbootbank. By definition, these LUNs will be the boot LUNs:
  1. Open a SSH ESXi session.
  2. Obtain the bootbank and altbootbank UUIDs by running this command:
ls -l /

Example output:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 49 Oct 27 17:55 altbootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/bebbef72-6cbc41fa-b169-68d3824c6d51
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 Sep 17 01:11 bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 49 Oct 27 17:55 bootbank -> /vmfs/volumes/94671c74-55d3efd8-6f90-332c181fc3cf
  1. Obtain the disk ID by running this command:
vmkfstools -P path

For example:
vmkfstools -P /vmfs/volumes/bebbef72-6cbc41fa-b169-68d3824c6d51
 
vfat-0.04 file system spanning 1 partitions.
File system label (if any):
Mode: private
Capacity 261853184 (63929 file blocks * 4096), 114647040 (27990 blocks) avail
UUID: bebbef72-6cbc41fa-b169-68d3824c6d51
Partitions spanned (on "disks"):
naa.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:6
  1. Check the device properties with these commands:
esxcli storage nmp device list -d naaID
esxcli storage core device list -d naaID

For example:

esxcli storage nmp device list -d naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261

naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261
Device Display Name: NETAPP Fibre Channel Disk (naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261)
Storage Array Type: VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA
Storage Array Type Device Config: SATP VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA does not support device configuration.
Path Selection Policy: VMW_PSP_FIXED
Path Selection Policy Device Config: {preferred=vmhba0:C0:T6:L0;current=vmhba0:C0:T6:L0}
Path Selection Policy Device Custom Config:
Working Paths: vmhba0:C0:T6:L0

And

esxcli storage core device list -d naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261
naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261
Display Name: NETAPP Fibre Channel Disk (naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261)
Has Settable Display Name: true
Size: 30720
Device Type: Direct-Access
Multipath Plugin: NMP
Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261
Vendor: NETAPP
Model: LUN
Revision: 0.2
SCSI Level: 4
Is Pseudo: false
Status: on
Is RDM Capable: true
Is Local: false
Is Removable: false
Is SSD: false
Is Offline: false
Is Perennially Reserved: false
Thin Provisioning Status: unknown
Attached Filters:
VAAI Status: unknown
Other UIDs: vml.020001000060060e80047e360000007e36000002614f50454e2d56
  1. We can also find the "friendly names" of these LUNs as seen in the vCenter/ESXi host client views using the esxcli storage filesystem list command, and searching for the naa number(s) that we found for our boot LUN(s):
/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60060e80047e360000007e3600000261    spr-lun3    60060e80-047e3600-0000-7e3600000261    true    VMFS-5    805037932544    400613703680

Using the above example, we can see that spr-lun3 is the friendly name of the boot LUN because its naa number 60060e80047e360000007e3600000261 matches what we found earlier.

Note: Locally-attached disk LUNs may not have "friendly names" set at all.


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