Nimble storage vVOL storage policy to do hot add existing hard disk on VM

[beegandhi]

vcenter 7 U2 
esxi 7 u2
Nimble storage HF60  Software version 6.0.0.200.927971-opt
I am trying add existing Hard disk from machine which is on vVOL but it is giving me an error saying "Invalid virtual machine configuration. Storage policy change failure: @&!*@*@(msg.disklib.UNSUPPORTEDFEATURE)The virtual disk requires a feature not supported by this program.:"
currentyl vVOL is using " VVol no Requirement Policy" 
I have a case open with vmware no resolution yet.
If i do the same operation on VMFS DS to do hot add it works fine. so the issue is only on vVOL
I also have open case with HPE # 04906744 [AF-230859].

My hands down I have no clue where the issue is.

[support_s]

System recommended content:

1. VMware vVols with HPE Primera Storage

2. HPE Nimble Storage All Flash Arrays

If the above information is helpful, then please click on "Thumbs Up/Kudo" icon.

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[Lori69]

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@beegandhi wrote: 

vcenter 7 U2 
esxi 7 u2
Nimble storage HF60  Software version 6.0.0.200.927971-opt
I am trying add existing Hard disk from machine which is on vVOL but it is giving me an error saying "Invalid virtual machine configuration. Storage policy change failure: @&!*@*@(msg.disklib.UNSUPPORTEDFEATURE)The virtual disk requires a feature not supported by this program.:"
currentyl vVOL is using " VVol no Requirement Policy" 
I have a case open with vmware no resolution yet.
If i do the same operation on VMFS DS to do hot add it works fine. so the issue is only on vVOL
I also have open case with HPE # 04906744 [AF-230859].

My hands down I have no clue where the issue is.

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Before you can implement VVols you need to be running vSphere 6 or above.

[beegandhi]

Lori thank you for your input,

vVOL is implemented on vcenter 7 u2 with esxi 7 u2.

[jkowalenko]

Did you ever get resolution on this? I am having the same issue. Using a backup appliance that takes a snapshot of the VM then attempts to mount the VMDK fails with the same error. It works fine on a VMFS backed VMDK. 

[DPG12]

Did anyone ever find a solution for this issue?  We're seeing the same thing when using Zerto for replication/failover.  The automated failover operation throws the storage policy errors, as well as when I try to manually attach the vmdk.  We're running vCenter 8.0 U3d.

[jmehlhoff]

Same boat as cant get to work with Veeam or Zerto. Anyone got an answer as I assume it has to be on stroage side

[DPG12]

We are not a Nimble shop... we have HPE Primera and Pure.  This issue happens on both.  Veeam has always worked for us.  What we did that yielded positive results for Zerto:

• We created a custom Storage Policy vs. using the built-in "VVOL No Requirements" Policy
• If you haven't upgraded to Zerto U6, do it.  And once you upgrade, recreate ALL of your VPGs.  Stinks, I know.
• Be sure you're setting a default storage policy on your VVOL datastore. 
• When you build VMs, target "Datastore Default" when prompted for the policy vs. picking an actual SP.  This way you're controlling which policy is applied with the datastore setting.

Completing those steps helped... we're not seeing the policy error (at least not right now.)  We are still, however, seeing an issue where Zerto/VVOLs refuse to cleanup folders after failover operations.  So when you fail back to the original location, your VMs get renamed because of the pre-existing folder.  Annoying.  VVOLs still feels half baked.

Good luck.

[jmehlhoff]

May i ask how you setup the custom storage policy as 

[DPG12]

There’s literally nothing in the storage policy. We’re not configuring anything special like scheduled snaps, undelete settings, etc. VMware support said there might be an issue with the SP, so we created one vs using the out-of-the-box one. It could be a total fluke… it’s just one of the steps we took. Zerto support said that when they send an API call to vCenter for a failover operation, they do not specify an SP. the API simply creates the VM and attaches a config/vmdks. That way vCenter handles the application of the SP based on what’s set as default on the vvol datastore.