Changing the width of the device field in esxtop

Symptom : When running the esxtop for troubleshooting the issue some field width are too small and not able to see the full field name , for example when troubleshooting the storage issue , the device id will be displayed as truncated  like naa.xxxx but not the full device id.

How to fix that : for example when troubleshooting storage issue
1.run esxtop on the ssh session of the esxi server
2.press u for disk device view
3.shift l or simply L ( caps L)
4.press 36 ( to see 36 character)
 

Converting RDM disk to VMDK

ISSUE : need to convert the RDM disk (physical mode or virtual mode) to VMDK disk

symptoms : couple of vm might be having rdm disk ( physical or virtual) and need to convert those disk into vmdk.

Scenario A: Converting physical compatability mode  RDM disk to VMDK

                1.directly converting physical mode rdm to vmdk will not be possisble First this physical mode rdm disk need to be converted to virtual mode.
                2.shutdown the vm
                3. click edit settings and select the physical mode rdm disk
                4. click remove disk and delete from datastore ( this will not delete the data from the disk for physical compatability mode rdm disk)
                5.click edit settings
                6. Add hard disk
                7. rdm disk
                8.select the rdm disk and select the mode as virtual compatability mode
                9.power on the server
                10.click edit settings and select migrate
                11.select datastore migration option
                12.select advance under the disk
                13.change the disk format to thick or thin disk
                14.select the destionation datastore .

Scenario B: Converting Virtual compatability mode RDM disk to VMDK
      
                 1.click edit settings and select migrate
                 2.select datastore migration option
                 3.select advance under the disk
                 4.change the disk format to thick or thin disk
                 5.select the destination datastore .
 

"Media Is Write protected" error while initializing new disk in windows server 2008

Error Message : media is write protected

symptoms: added a new storage disk to the windows server  and try to initialize the disk under disk managment but it failed with the error "media is write protected"


Root cause: This is due to the san policy in windows 2008 server .If the san policy is VDS_SP_OFFLINE then the disk will be offline and read only disk.

How to fix the issue :

1. Open the command prompt as administrator and type diskpart and hit enter
2. list disk
3.select disk X ( where x is the disk number which is offline)
4.if the disk is offline then type online disk to bring that online
5.type detail disk and check for read only attribute is showing as yes
6.type attribute disk clear readonly to clear the read only attribute
7.exit
8.reinitialize the disk ,if reinitliaze popup doesn't come up then reboot the server and try to reintialize.
 

Java error shows - Certificate has been revoked .The application will not be executed error on ucs KVM

When you try to access the KVM console on the ucs CIMC or UCS manager Java error shows

“ Certificate has been revoked . The application will not be executed”

How to fix this issue temporarily ( Workaround) :

1. Goto control panel on the machine where you are opening the KVM

2. double click on Java

3. Click on the advanced tab on the java control panel

4. under “Perform Certificate revocation checks on”

5. Select “do not check (not recommended).

Now you will be able to access the KVM . Once you are done with the work go back to the control panel and change back to the previous settings.

UCS Manager shows the Major error F0909 for the keyring certificate

Where to confirm this issue :
Check the ucs manager alerts it shows Error code F0909 with keyring default certificate expired.
Get into the SSH session of the ucs manager using putty then run the following command to check the certificate status.

UCS-A# scope security
UCS-A /security # scope keyring detail

Certificate status : expired ( this is what output screen shows)
How to fix this issue:
On the ssh session of the ucs manager run the following command to regenerate the default certificate

 UCS-A# scope security
 UCS-A /security # scope keyring default
 UCS-A /security/keyring* # set regenerate yes
 UCS-A /security/keyring* # commit-buffer
 UCS-A /security/keyring #
Goback to the ucs manager GUI screen and accept the new certificate. This will close and open the ucs manager gui session again .

If third party certificate is used instead of default.Then import the certificate using command

 UCS-A# scope security
 UCS-A /security # scope keyring XXXXX ( XXXXX keyring name for ke20)
 UCS-A /security/keyring # set trustpoint yyyyy ( yyyyy is the trustpoint name created during the certificate request)
 UCS-A /security/keyring* # set cert
 Enter lines one at a time. Enter ENDOFBUF to finish. Press ^C to abort.
 Keyring certificate:
 > -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
               XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
               XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
               XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
               XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> -----END CERTIFICATE-----
> ENDOFBUF
Commit-buffer
 Go back and accept the new certificate and the GUI session will close and reopen again.

Reclaiming Thin provisioned Disk

Issue: esxi environment storage disk is showing the free space properly by from the netapp view it is not showing the proper free space. For example 100 Gb lun (named as lun1) is presented to the esxi server this lun is a thin provisioned lun from netapp. Created a 25 GB vm on the 100 Gb lun (lun1) , now the free space in that lun (lun1) is 75 GB which is good. Storage vmotioned that vm to the another lun (named lun2). Now the free space on the lun1 should be 100 GB from ESXI view as well as NetApp storage view but I am seeing 100 GB free from esxi view but NetApp storage view is still showing 75 is free and 25 GB in use.

 Root Cause: VAAI unmap is disabled by default in ESXI host due to the performance impact. This VAAI feature inform the storage array that the vm files is moved or deleted and allow the array to reclaim the blocks.

Workaround : to reclaim the free space , we have to use vmkfstools .Before running the reclaims command on the esxi host couple of things we need to check couple of things
1.verify the hardware acceleration status on the esxi storage tab which should show as supported or unknown if you disable the VAAI option from NetApp side.
2. not down the device id naa.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX , this can be noted from the esxi storage tab view or get into the ssh and run the below command

esxcli storage core device list | more

3.run this command on ssh session to see the lun is a thin provisioned lun or not

esxcli storage core device list –d naa.xxxxxxxxxxx 
at the end of the line check
                   Thin provisioning status : yes
                   Attached filters : VAAI_filter
                   VAAI status:supported (it may show unknown if it is disabled from Netapp)
1. Now we need to check if the delete is supported on that lun.run the below command on ssh to check this

esxcli storage core device vaai status get –d naa.XXXXXXXXXX

 last line of the result should show Delete status :supported

2. To reclaim the space run the below command on ssh .Navigate to the vmfs path by running the command.

Cd /vmfs/volumes/lun1/
Vmkfstools -y xx ( example vmkfstools –y 50 ------ to reclaim 50% of free space)

Note :don’t put reclaim percentage as 100 , because this will completely occupy your free space till the reclaim process get completed and if you have any other vm running on the same lun will go down if it doesn’t have enough space.

( where xx is the percentage of free space you want to reclaim) , for example consider a scenario that you have 100 GB lun name lun1. You have two vm each 25 GB disk , so you have 50 Gb free and 50 GB used. Now let vmotion one of the vm to another lun call this as lun2. Now lun 1 have 75 GB free space. If you want to put the reclaim percentage then put 50 which will create a balloon disk of size 37.5 GB ( 50 % of 75 GB) . putting 100% is not recommended as it may take the other vm down due to the space issue).

Virtual Storage Console: Host NetApp discovery hangs at terminating stale tasks @ 15%

Where this error shows:
1. In vsphere client it shows the task is hangs @ 15 % with terminating stale task.
2. Under Virtual storage console , any of the host is showing as unknown or disconnected.

 Cause for this issue:
1. Any of the ESXI host in the vsphere is in not responding or disconnected state.
2. Double check the account Permission used in adding the vsphere to the vsc.

 How to fix this issue:
1. Goto VSC and right click on the host which is showing as disconnected or not responding and click skip option and make sure you have check the small box in it. The host status should show as skipped if skip option is selected.
2. If the esxi host is permanently down then remove that from vsphere client.
3. Check the account permission used for the vsc console configuration having proper access to the vcenter.

     This is a bug in 4.1 version of VSC for vcenter version 5 and it is fixed in 4.2. the bug id is 592931. Here is the bug detail

http://support.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol?Type=Detail&Display=592931