Running backup or restore commands using Virtual Disk Development Kit on an ESXi host fails with the error: ESXMapperGetPhysicalMapping:Failed to get physical mapping

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Running Backup or Restore commands using the Virtual Disk Development Kit in SAN mode on vmdk files with size equal to 2TB or multiple of 2TB fails.
• You see the error:
  
  ESXMapperGetPhysicalMapping:Failed to get physical mapping
   
• In the /var/log/vmkernel log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  2015-02-12T03:19:36.674Z cpu19:38207)WARNING: Cow: 778: Getting layout failed with Limit exceeded
  2015-02-12T03:19:36.674Z cpu19:38207)WARNING: DD: 531: Getting cow hierarchy layoutExt failed with Limit exceeded
   
• In the /var/log/hostd log file, you see entries similar to:
  
  2015-03-26T11:11:49.674Z [49740B70 verbose 'Hostsvc.DvsManager'] PersistAllDvsInfo called
  2015-03-26T11:11:56.499Z [4A2C2B70 info 'Libs' opID=bd65059-86 user=vpxuser] OBJLIB-FILEBE : FileBEIoctl: ioctl operation failed on '/vmfs/devices/deltadisks/virtual_machine-000004-sesparse.vmdk' : File too large (1769474)
  2015-03-26T11:11:56.499Z [4A2C2B70 warning 'Libs' opID=bd65059-86 user=vpxuser] ESXMapperGetPhysicalMapping: Failed to get physical mapping: 1b0004 File too large
  2015-03-26T11:11:56.499Z [4A2C2B70 error 'Blklistsvc' opID=bd65059-86 user=vpxuser] Cannot get block mapping: 1.
  
  Note: This log excerpt is an example. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
Virtual Disk Development Kit 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
Virtual Disk Development Kit 5.5

Cause

This issue occurs when the VMDK file size is either 2TB or multiples of 2TB, such as 4TB, 6TB, and so on and occurs due to a failed query for the physical mapping on the VMDK files. However, the same query succeeds on disks that are lesser or greater than the threshold, such as 1.9TB, 2.1TB, 3.9TB, 4.1TB, and so on.

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting ESXi 5.5 and 6.0.

 

This issue is resolved in:

• ESXi 5.5 Update 3b available at VMware Downloads.
• ESXi 6.0 Update 1b available at VMware Downloads.

 

To work around this issue, create the VMDK files that are not equal to 2TB or multiple of 2TB.