VSAN node reinstall question

[Varashi]

Hi guys, I'm wondering if you can shed some light on the following situation:

A VSAN node needs to be reinstalled to a new boot drive (from HD to USB)

I will perform the following:

- Put VSAN node in maintenance mode

- Perform configuration backup with vicfg-cfgbackup

- Shut down the VSAN node

- Reinstall ESXi to USB stick

- Perform configuration restore with vicfg-cgbackup

- Exit maintenance mode

Will the restored VSAN node be a proper member of the VSAN cluster again, and only do a partial resync after exiting maintenance mode (as if the node's never been reinstalled)?

Or will the node have to be added to the cluster again and completely resync or recreate the disk groups?

I'd like to move from a HD to an USB-based ESXi install, but resyncing 5TB of of data is something I would like to avoid :smileyhappy:

Thanks!

[elerium]

In my lab testing, the steps you've listed should work, I've done rebuilds similar in the past. I've forgotten but I also remember there were 1 or 2 possible issues that can arise from this but are corrected if you move the rebuilt host out and back into the cluster. It's possible these issues have been fixed in the newer 6.1/6.2 releases of VSAN, my experience from this is from 6.0 release.

You may also need to change the repair delay if it takes more than 1hr for all your steps, otherwise VSAN will perform a resync anyways. VMware KB: Changing the default repair delay time for a host failure in VMware Virtual SAN