ESXi 4 fresh install not recognizing datastore

[EHarr]

Good Morning Everyone,

First off here is the server hardware I am currently having issues with

HP DL360 G5

6 x 146GB SAS Local Storage (Raid 5)

HP Smart Array p400i

With this server we started out having only 4 drives in raid 5 (which worked great) but this week we installed 2 more. To do this I deleted the existing logical drive and created a new one which included the two new hard drives to bring the total to 6.

Well no matter how many times I try when ESXi 4 finishes installing there is no datastore created (which it has always done automatically in the past). Please see attached screenshot named datastore for details. When I go to look at the devices though it shows the partitions that were created and one of them is VMFS with a size of 678GB (see devices.jpg for details). If I attempt to create a datastore it goes through the motions but the shows an error message "Error during the configuration of the host: Failed to update disk partition information"

I have erased all disks, deleted and recreated the drive arrays and logical drives all to no avail. We have another box that is identical to this one where the same procedure was done and it worked beautifully. So I am fully out of ideas. If anyone could provide any information I would greatly apprciate it. Thank You!

[golddiggie]

What do you see under the host's "Hardware Status" tab in the "Storage" section?

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[EHarr]

None of the three servers that we manage through vcenter server have a storage section under the hardware status so I an unsure of where else to find it. Also the two alerts you see in the screenshot are becuase I don't have the second power supply plugged in at the moment. Thank you for looking into this.

[golddiggie]

Are you using the HP customized ESXi install or the generic one?

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[EHarr]

I am using the generic ESXi install

[golddiggie]

Did you install ESXi 4u1 onto a volume that's also on that same controller, or onto something else?

It's possible that the controller itself is the issue. Do you have hardware support on the server still (so you can reach out to HP for hardware assistance)?

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[EHarr]

It is installed on the same controller, it is actually installed on the same logical drive but previously it would use all of the free space to create the datastore. Which is what it's twin has done successfully for some reason.

I am unsure if we have call in tech support or not for these machines, I will inquire and begin the process of asking them for support as well.

I have not yet tried moving the drives around, I will do that here in the next few minutes and see what happens.

[golddiggie]

I would go with Andre's suggestion and take it even a step beyond (after swapping the drives around) and say to create two arrays, shutdown/startup, then destroy them and create another (single) array again. Actually, do a full shutdown, unplug the power connection, wait a few minutes (if you open up the system, wait until all the LED's are dark) between the RAID builds.

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[a_p_]

This may sound silly (maybe it is) but could you erase the RAID, swap HDD's (bay1 <-> bay6, bay2 <-> bay5, bay3 <-> bay4), then recreate the RAID and try again? In case there is some old patterns on the drives which are recognized during installation.

André

[EHarr]

Well I just did what you suggested Andre' and it worked perfectly... I now have a 678GB datastore :smileyhappy:

Thank you both for all of your help :smileyhappy: Now time to close this and give out some points :smileyhappy:

[golddiggie]

Nice... From what I've seen, HP arrays tend to be more stubborn than others...

At least you managed to get things back to 'normal' again...

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[grissino]

Hello everyone,

I have a similar problem with HP DL380G6, 4 HD 300 Gb raid5.

I installed ESxi 4 customized for HP Proliant.

ESXi and Datastore are on the same controller and logical disk

I configured 2 VM. The server was working fine until I upgraded from a 6Gb Ram to 18GB

Now I have the same problem EHarr. The ESXi client no longer see the

datastore. If I try add Datastore I receive "failed to update disk

partition information".

Then I logged in as unsupported mode by CLI, and I see VMFS partition. But I did not changes because I don't want lose the VM

HP techinical support don't have answer

I have another identical server configured the same way and works well :smileyalert:

I could rotate the HD, as suggested by Andre, but I'm afraid of losing VM.

Any suggestion? I am very grateful for your previous answers

Thanks you!