ERROR: The disk is blank with ESXi Datastore creation

ERROR: The disk is blank with ESXi Datastore creation

Call "HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions" for object "ha-datastoresystem" on ESXi "192.168.10.221" failed.

The other window underneath shows Location /vmfs/devices/disks/mpx.vmhba:3:C0:T0:L0  "The hard disk is blank."

This just happened to me when trying to create a new datastore on reconfigured RAID 10 array.

Call "HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions" for object "ha-datastoresystem" on ESXi "192.168.10.xxx" failed.

Disk is blank ! Well yes I just erased everything and initialized the new array.

So if you go on the Console or SSH in and run this command you get the ouput below.

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/disks/naa.60019b90b36c760014f68e5892d35343: 999.1 GB, 999116767232 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121469 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/disks/naa.60019b90b36c760014f68e5892d35343 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0: 2020 MB, 2020872192 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1927 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Notice no partition is present on the target disk.

So then you run this command

~ # fdisk -u /dev/disks/naa.60019b90b36c760014f68e5892d35343

Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table

This  prompts you to create a partition either extended or primary

you choose primary then label Partition 1

in my case I was using the entire disk so I chose the default sectors to use  MAX space on the disk.

Once done then run this again to check

Fdisk –l

Disk /dev/disks/naa.60019b90b36c760014f68e5892d35343: 999.1 GB, 999116767232 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121469 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

                                           Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System

/dev/disks/naa.60019b90b36c760014f68e5892d35343p1             1    121470 975699936+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0: 2020 MB, 2020872192 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1927 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Notice the partition is there

Login to viclient and create your datastore!!!

Understanding vSphere Disaster Recovery/Avoidance options

Just finished reading up on this great article over at Virtual geek
Be sure to check it out he has some great stuff over there.

From Virtual Geek.

Wrapping up all the blog posts in one place, and including a webcast and powerpoint on the topic.
Phew – that was a lot of work, right in the middle of the 2011 planning cycle :-)
The blog series is: “Understanding vSphere Disaster Avoidance/Recovery” – discussing a broad topic: state of the union of vSphere non-disruptive disaster avoidance and disaster recovery solutions, and how they interact (because it ain’t easy to do both together when you dive in deep). 

Read Post I: Discusses the 4 key solution categories in this space. Read it here.
Read Post II: Discusses one of solution (stretched vSphere cluster and VPLEX) and gory failure scenarios in detail. Read it here.
Read Post III: Discusses what’s going on in this space (and where EMC R&D efforts are centered). Read it here.

Using Windows PowerShell To Enhance Your VMware Management

For those that haven't noticed, Windows PowerShell has really taken the world by storm over the last 12 to 15 months. Microsoft has a strong internal initiative to provide PowerShell support for all of their server applications and operating systems. The technology caught on so well that we are starting to see heavy usage of PowerShell outside of Microsoft as well. All three major hypervisor vendors are now providing PowerShell capabilities in their products via PowerShell cmdlets. In fact, we are now seeing some storage vendors like Compellent and NetApp driving their own PowerShell initiatives.

What does all this PowerShell mean? Simply put, we now have a single technology that can be used for scripting automation and management that crosses all four major layers of the virtualization stack.

Underlying Infrastructure (Storage and potentially Network)
Hypervisor
Operating System
Applications

The adoption of, and education surrounding PowerShell is a hot strategic goal for systems administrators in 2009 and heading into 2010. At Vizioncore we are also embracing PowerShell as a strategic internal initiative to provide maximum flexibility to our customers and integration partners. You will see us pushing forward with projects like Virtualization EcoShell, which is entirely focused on PowerShell management, as well as with our new vRanger 4.0 DPP. PowerShell will be changing the way people think about managing their infrastructures, and we are prepared to be on the front line of this movement.

In order to use PowerShell scripting to resolve this issue you will need two components at a minimum:

Microsoft Windows PowerShell - Command line shell and scripting language that helps IT professionals achieve greater control and productivity (I'm not that cheasy, I ripped it off from Microsoft's website).
VMware Infrastructure Toolkit - Powerful yet simple command line interface for task based management of the VMware Infrastructure Platform (again, stolen).
Virtualization EcoShell TM (optional) - Desktop application for novice and expert IT administrators leveraging Windows PowerShell scripts across their multi-platform virtual environments.
Check back on this blog as I provide Tips and Tricks, as well as real-life examples of how PowerShell management of your Virtual Infrastructure can open up some significant possibilities to you as an administrator. For now, I've provided some useful links to help you get started.
Virtualization EcoshellTM
VMware VI Toolkit Community
Alan Renouf's Virtu-AI Blog
Hal Rottenberg's Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell TFM

RV Tools 2.9 released

Rob de Veij has just released a new version of RVTools:

Version 2.9 (April 2010)

• On vHost tab new fields: Vendor and model.
• On vHost tab new fields: Bios version and Bios release date.
• On vInfo tab new field: VM overall size in bytes (visible when using VI API 4.0)
• On vSnapshot tab new fields: Snapshot filename and size in bytes (visible when using VI API 4.0)
• New vNic tab. The vNic tab displays for each physival nic on the host the following fields: Host, datacenter, cluster name, network device, driver, speed, duplex setting, mac address, PCI and wakeon switch.
• Layout change on vHost, vSwitch and vPort tabpages. They now all start with host name, datacenter and cluster name.
• The commandline function ExportAll extended with an extra optional parameter. It’s now possible to specify the directory where the export files are written.

Make sure to download the latest version!