Space reclamation - v12

[MikeDoh]

Hi,

We have

2x P4300G2

4xP4500G2

2x4330

2x 4335

Running a raid 10 enviroment. These are patchesd and up to date

We also run Vmware 5.5.

I enabled Space reclamation on the Cluster and it enabled successful. However we we delete data from within out 2012 R2 windows servers space relcmation doesnt do anything.

So i created a new Volume in the CMC, added the lun to vmware, created a NEW VM in Vshpere. added some data to the vm. Then deleted it.

Again Space reclamation didnt work. Do I have to do any manual steps, or what do I do to troucbleshoot this?

Many thanks

MIke

[oikjn]

when windows created the drive it checks to see if the trim command is supported and if it isn't when the drive is created then it doesn't get that feature. 

There is some way to refresh that and add it to existing drives, but in my case I found it was just easier to create new drives and migrate data as my use was small enough.

as a test, try creating a new drive on a new LUN now inside of the windows server and then see if Trim works for it.  My guess is it will and then you get to decide if you want to figure out how to update that trim support setting for each disk in windows or just re-create the disks.

[MikeDoh]

Hi oikjn,

Thanks for the reply

I already created a new VM on a new Lun on a new volume in the cmc and it didn't reclaim anything. how soon should I be looking at ? although this was a couple of weeks ago.

I even looked at the drives in windows and they do support trim so I'm not sure what the problem is. We have file 8 file servers in out bum environment over 7-10 tbs and I really want to make this work as space is becoming an issue

[oikjn]

the space reclaimation starts working right away once windows starts sending the commands.  I tested it using LUNs directly attached to the windows servers. 

How about you try connecting a LUN direct to the windows server to test trim first.  That should tell you if the problem is on the windows side or the esx side... something isn't sending the trim commands here and if you verified that the windows servers really are sending the commands then the next step would be to troubleshoot the esx side, but someone else will have to comment on how to test that one.

[MikeDoh]

Thanks Oikjn

I addded a LUN direct attached and it does reclaim!

I added another vmdk and its doesnt, however i have a query, in disk defragmenter in Windows 2012. The LUN attached disk is showing as a Thin Providioned drive. All the VMDKs i have within the VM, are all showing as "Hard disk drive "even though they were made as thin provisioned disk, is this correct?

Other than that, anyone have any ideas on why it wont reclaim when esxi is in the middle yet a direct attched lun does reclaim, im at a loss now :(

[oikjn]

you've hit the end of my help.  I"m a hyper-v guy and can't tell you much about the esx troubleshooting.  Not sure if its too hard for you to create a new thin VMDK and attempt to test that one.  Past that, I know there is some way to manually change the designation of the disk in windows to thin, but I never found it and determined for me it was easier to migrate the data than it would be to find the solution.  At this point you still have to determine if it is the VMDK that needs to be updated to be "thin" or if it is just the underlying drives attached to the windows VMs.

Good luck.  Please post a followup for others who may run into the problem when you do find a solution.

[Sbrown]

ESxi 5.5 requires a CLI command to reclaim in 200mb chunks. Esxi 5.1 requires more complex commands to do the similar action.

I think esxi 6.0 can actively trim with scsi unmap and VAAI (enterprise plus license!) but the older versions do not!

[MikeDoh]

SO after readin the latest coomment.

we updated our Esxi to 6.0, and after reading the vmware features VAAI is now included in standard editions not enterprise plus.

Again, created a new server. New VMDK within the VM. Windows 2012. It now detects it as a thin provisioned disk. Remove the data,...

Nothing happens. Im at a loss now on what to try next.

Anyone got this working ?