Error: "Degraded" & "Failed to create VMFS datastore <name> - Cannot change the host configuration"

[darienn]

Hello,

We receive the below error message in ESXi 6.7 U2 web interface while creating a new VM datastore on a volume presented by VSA 12.7.00.0226.0 (HP CS200-HC):

- Failed to create VMFS datastore <name> - Cannot change the host configuration

Moreover, under ESXi 6.7 U2 web interface > Storage > Devices, the status of the presented "LEFTHAND iSCSI Disk" is shown as "Normal, Degraded" with an exclamation mark.

Finally, in vmkernel.log, the below lines are generated while creating the VM datastore:

1. 2019-06-17T10:19:25.492Z cpu26:2589307)NMP: nmp_ThrottleLogForDevice:3788: Cmd 0x2a (0x45a2538d2140, 2591668) to dev "naa.6000eb33b73dad140000000000001074" on path "vmhba64:C0:T0:L0" Failed: H:0x0 D:0x2 P:0x0 Valid sense data: 0x7 0x27 0x7. Act:NONE
2. 2019-06-17T10:19:25.492Z cpu26:2589307)ScsiDeviceIO: 3449: Cmd(0x45a2538d2140) 0x2a, CmdSN 0x3 from world 2591668 to dev "naa.6000eb33b73dad140000000000001074" failed H:0x0 D:0x2 P:0x8 Valid sense data: 0x7 0x27 0x7.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Mohamed_I]

Hi Darienn,

From what we have seen and found this error comes from having disks that were part of different arrays and contain some data on them. We need to run the following commands to fix the issue.

1. Show connected disks.

ls -lha /vmfs/devices/disks/

(Verify the disk is seen. You will probably see your disk ID then: 1. This is a partition on the disk. We only need to work about the main disk ID.)

2. Show the error on disk.

partedUtil getptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/(disk ID)

(It will probably indicate that the GPT is located beyond the end of the disk.)

3. Wipe disk and rewrite with a basic MS-DOS partition.

partedUtil setptbl /vmfs/devices/disks/(disk ID) msdos

(The output from this should be similar to msdos and the next line will be o o o o)

As the above commands will need to be performed on the ESXi host and include some commands related the partitions, I will suggest that we engage the VMWare team while running the commands.

[darienn]

Thanks, but I tried that before and it didn't work. (I also found those commands from VMware forum before coming here.)

FYI, our vCenter (with an external PSC and distributed switch) was at fault and had to be given up and rebuilt. (See if this detail matters.)

Please help.

[darienn]

Any hint or idea on what else I could look at would be appreciated.

(I would love research myself, but I am out of ideas at the moment.)