Raid rebuild and no datastore in esxi

[Pawel24]

Hello There,

After rebuilding the raid array, the datastore is missing in esxi 6.5.0u3. Datastore was extended: built of two vmfs (two raid1 arrays)
This is what it looks like in esxi:

esxcli storage vmfs snapshot list
//empty

--

esxcli storage vmfs extent list
Volume Name VMFS UUID Extent Number Device Name Partition
----------- ----------------------------------- ------------- ------------------------------------ ---------
Dell_Disk 5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b 0 naa.6b8ca3a0f09f1600247fb29703282e79 1
Dell_Disk 5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b 0 naa.6842b2b04a57bd0026fde54e26a7794c 1

--

esxcli storage vmfs lockmode list
Volume Name UUID Type Locking Mode ATS Compatible ATS Upgrade Modes ATS Incompatibility Reason
----------- ----------------------------------- ------ ------------ -------------- ----------------- ---------------------------
Dell_Disk 5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b VMFS-6 ATS+SCSI false None Device does not support ATS

--

esxcfg-scsidevs -m
VmFileSystem: SlowRefresh() failed: Cannot open volume: /vmfs/volumes/5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b
naa.6b8ca3a0f09f1600247fb29703282e79:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6b8ca3a0f09f1600247fb29703282e79:1 5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b 0 Dell_Disk
naa.6842b2b04a57bd0026fde54e26a7794c:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6842b2b04a57bd0026fde54e26a7794c:1 5cf5d857-50508429-16b2-90b11c57ee3b 1 Dell_Disk

in the attachment there is also a screenshot of esxi
and vmkernel logs after executing vmkfstools -V

can the datastore be restored?

[maksym007]

the main question is how did you exactly rebuild your RAID? 

could be possible that you during rebuild - overwrote all previous data and now esxi does not recognize your datastores

[Pawel24]

During startup, The Dell R420 server displayed the message "foreign raid configuration found". After selecting the "F" option, import the foreign configuration - the import did not take place.
I followed the steps below:
1. I turned off the server,
2. I pulled out the disks,
3. I reset/cleared the settings of the H710 perlc controller,
4. I connected the drives again,
4. I turned on the server,
5. I imported a foreign configuration, the disk changed its status to Rebuilding and after the operation, virtual disks raid went from degraded to online.

[e_espinel]

hello. The raid configuration and other parameters are saved in the controller's ROM, additionally it is also saved in a reserved area of the disks. It is very rare to lose the controller's raid configuration, but it can happen if there is a power outage and/or failures in the controller's firmware, so it is recommended to keep it updated. If I manage to load the raid configuration and a rebuild process has started, you must wait for it to finish, but you should be able to access the logical drive or drives. In my experience, you must first solve all hardware problems, then update the firmware, to finally see what the logical drive or drives look like in the operating system.

You should look in the controller logs to see what the problem or cause of the failure was.

.