A strange thing happened to me today:
I restarted my ESXi 5.1 server just to find (vSphere Client: Configuration->Storage->Datastores) that one of local datastores is lost. It is a single disk on sata/ahci controller which worked without any problem up to now.
First I tried "Rescan for Datastore" (vSphere Client). Datastore appeared for short time, but with strange properties (931GB, but formated capacity only 464GB). Moreover, when I opened datastore-browser, it was totally empty! I used this one only for local backups so it is not a big loss for me, but anyway. Very strange. Then I clicked on "properties" and tried "refresh", and it dissapeared again. "Rescan for Datastores" did not bring it back this time...
Then I went to ESXi-shell using ssh-client. After logging in I tried "df" but all I got is:
~ # df
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/sbin/df", line 99, in <module>
sys.exit(main(sys.argv))
File "/sbin/df", line 53, in main
o = eval(output)
File "<string>", line 1
Errors:
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
~ #
I changed to /vmfs/volumes and tried listing all datastores:
/vmfs/volumes # ls -al
ls: ./507c45d1-578e7fa1-966e-001e67648fd4: Input/output error
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 Mar 16 16:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 512 Mar 16 15:38 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8 Jan 1 1970 1a0e7f76-91b3179c-515e-c71ac9d4cbbe
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8 Jan 1 1970 507abc97-69483b3e-2baa-001e67648fd4
drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 1120 Oct 14 13:22 507abc9e-bda3af2d-c9e7-001e67648fd4
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8 Jan 1 1970 507abc9f-8be253c6-bc2b-001e67648fd4
drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 2380 Feb 2 20:13 507ac185-15295b94-2383-001e67648fd4
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35 Mar 16 16:00 backup ->507c45d1-578e7fa1-966e-001e67648fd4
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8 Jan 1 1970 f243f673-bc48c11e-bbb5-622915fcf931
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35 Mar 16 16:00 guests ->507ac185-15295b94-2383-001e67648fd4
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35 Mar 16 16:00 hypervisor ->507abc9e-bda3af2d-c9e7-001e67648fd4
/vmfs/volumes #
Apparently there is somethig wrong with "507c45d1-578e7fa1-966e-001e67648fd4" to which the link /vmfs/volumes/backup points.
I restarted server again and went to bios this time. That disk is visible, full capacity recognised, and does not report any problems. Booted to esxi, and again the same thing: this local datastore is "invisible". I selected "Rescan" again, and this datastore appeared. This time with capacity 148GB (?), Used 1645140 (no unit), and Free "-1,808,850" (do not know what this means). Refreshed storage, and it dissapeared again.
And whenever it dissapeares, I could add it again with "Add Storage...", because it appeares in the Disk/LUN list, with full and correct capacity 931GB, but no VMFS label (so apparently I'd have to reformat it).
What could all this mean? Is the disk simply dying? BTW it is quite new (bought just 2 months ago).
JarryG