Unable to create thin disks on an NFS folder

[MariusRoma]

Two ESXi 5.0 servers member of a vSphere 5.0 infrastructore use a NFS datastore hosted by an HP StoreEasy 1440 server running Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard.

Everything worked fine for some months.

The same ESXi 5.0 servers use another NFS datastore hosted by a different NAS without problems.

When I try to copy a VM from a different datastore to the NFS datastore hosted by the HP StoreEasy 1440 server and specify "Thin" as the format for the target disks, the target disks are created as "Thick".

When I try to create a new VM on the NFS datastore hosted by the HP StoreEasy 1440 server and specify "Thin" as the format for the disks to be created, the disks are created as "Thick" as well.

I don't get any error message.

The NFS datastore hosted by the HP StoreEasy 1440 server contains VMs created or copied some times ago with "thin" disks.

I presume that something changed or was changed in the settings but I can't see any relevant change either in the Windows Storage Server configuration and in the ESXi confnguration.

Have anybody faced a similar problem?

How can I troubleshoot the problem and create again "Thin" disks?

Regards

marius

[narenotpp]

in order to create Thin vDisk on NFS datastore, it must be coming from NAS which has support of vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI) and should be enabled.

check your storage box specifications, see if it supports VAAI.

the other NAS storage that you are talking about where you are not facing this issue definitely has VAAI supported by it.

[MariusRoma]

Thabnk you for your message.

Do you mean that VAAI support must be enabled on the source or on the target datastore?

How can I check that VAAI support is enabled on a given datastore?

Regards

marius

[narenotpp]

you will find almost all the answer to your query from following URL,

VMware KB: Frequently Asked Questions for vStorage APIs for Array Integration

How do I know if VAAI is enabled?

To determine if VAAI is enabled using the vSphere Client:

1. In the vSphere Client inventory panel, click the host.
2. Click the Configuration tab, then click Advanced Settings under Software.
3. Check that these options are set to 1 (enabled):
   
   DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedMove
   DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedInit
   VMFS3.HardwareAcceleratedLocking

How do I know if my storage array supports VAAI?

To determine if your storage array supports VAAI, see the Hardware Compatibility List or consult your storage vendor. To enable the hardware acceleration on the storage array, check with your storage vendor. Some storage arrays require explicit activation of hardware acceleration support.

[MariusRoma]

Thank you for your message.

I am confused because something changed and I can't say what changed.

The same NFS server used to host "Thin" disks till some days ago.

I still see "Thin" disks belonging to VMs created or migrated some days ago.

Now if I migrate any VM from any other (VMFS or NFS) datastore the target disks are "Thick".

So I presume that the server hosting the NFS share does support "Thin" disks and that something changed in the last days.

Automatic software update is disabled in both the VMware hosts and in the HP server.

The problem is detecting what can have changed, either in the VMware hosts or in the HP server...

Can anybody please help?

Regards

marius

[narenotpp]

sorry, I made a mistake earlier in my first post.

Ultimately thin should always be supported on NFS datastore. On NFS datastores that do support Hardware Acceleration/VAAI, will give me choice of creating VM with think virtual disks.

that makes your issue really strange that you are not able to create thin disks.

seems your nfs datastore has defaulted to thick disks some how.

if you try to create a new virtual disk using vi client on this datastore, are you getting all three options in disk provisioning policy (Thick eager/lazy and thin), please double check and let me know.

[narenotpp]

How are you migrating these VMs,

are you doing browse datastore in vSphere Client and picking up VM Folder and moving it to NFS datastore?  - If yes, that might be cause of it not preserving thin format.

I would suggest, use migration wizard provided by vCenter server, right click on VM in your vCenter inventory, click on Migrate and go with 'Change Datastore' option, select your destination datastore which is this NFS datastore (just to be sure, select disk provisioning policy to be thin) and finish the wizard. Let the task finish and see disk provisioning policy at destination datastore.

[MariusRoma]

While creating or migrating a VM I have all the options related to the disk formats (Thin and 2 Thiks) and I get no error.

When I look at the created or migrated VM disks are Thick,

Other disks on the same NFS folder are still Thin.

How can an NFS datastore dewfault to Thick?

Mayber there is some setting I don't see?

Regards

marius

[cykVM]

Seems to be a limitation (or even a bug) with NFS on Windows storage server. Here is a similar discussion with a workaround but no real solution: Re: NFS Thin Provisioning becomes thick after creation

[MariusRoma]

Great pointer, even if does not resolve my issue...

Regards

marius

[nbctcp2]

based on discussion above, in order for think disk working in NFS, we need VAAI.

But FreeNAS didn't support VAAI in NFS (only iSCSI) if I see from this link

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/iscsi-nfs-win-for-me.40719/

Any other free product (Nextenta?) that support VAAI in NFS?