Trying to create a virtual machine on a NFS mounted datastore failure

[cfortanb]

I ran out of disk space on my vmware machine, so, took a USB external drive, and attached it to a Windows server. I used the MSFT services for Unix 3.5 to NFS share the disk, and successfully mounted the share on my vmware esxi server (I can browse the datastore, upload files, etc...).

The problem is, when I try to create a new virtual machine, and choose the nfs mount as the datastore location, it fails. It comes back after a few seconds that its unable to access the file. Looking into the log of the SFU service, I can see files being created, then deleted. If I look at the windows share,I can actually see what is being created before its deleted again. The events viewer on the vmware server shows the creation of the machine up until the MAC address is generated, then nothing. Does anyone have any ideas? I have my root user mapped to the Administrator in windows, so, I don't think that is the problem, especially since its successfully creating the directory, etc....

04-20-2009 15:47:45 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0

04-20-2009 15:47:45 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx

04-20-2009 15:47:45 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmdk

04-20-2009 15:47:45 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-8070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:45 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-8070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:45 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx

04-20-2009 15:47:45 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-8070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:46 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-e070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:46 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-E070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:46 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmdk

04-20-2009 15:47:46 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-e070055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:46 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx

04-20-2009 15:47:46 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\EXPRESS 5.0.VMX

04-20-2009 15:47:46 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmxf

04-20-2009 15:47:46 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\EXPRESS 5.0.VMXF

04-20-2009 15:47:46 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:46 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:46 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmsd

04-20-2009 15:47:47 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

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04-20-2009 15:47:47 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:47 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:47 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

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04-20-2009 15:47:47 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.vmBigFileTest0

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-2073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-2073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.vmBigFileTest0

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-2073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0-flat.vmdk

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-e073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-E073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0-flat.vmdk

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-e073055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-6072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-6072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmxf

04-20-2009 15:47:48 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-6072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:48 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx.MULTILOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:48 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\EXPRESS 5.0.VMX.MULTILOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:49 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx.WRITELOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:49 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\EXPRESS 5.0.VMX.WRITELOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:49 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-2075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-2075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx.MULTILOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:49 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-2075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 READ SUCCESS 10.82.15.112

04-20-2009 15:47:49 DELETE FAILURE 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\scripts

04-20-2009 15:47:49 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-a075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-A075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx.WRITELOCK

04-20-2009 15:47:49 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-a075055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:49 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-c072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-C072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmsd

04-20-2009 15:47:50 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-c072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 CREATE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-0072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 WRITE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\EXPRESS 5.0\.LCK-0072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\Express 5.0.vmx

04-20-2009 15:47:50 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:\Express 5.0\.lck-0072055500000000

04-20-2009 15:47:50 DELETE SUCCESS 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:
Express 5.0

04-20-2009 15:47:52 DELETE FAILURE 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:
Express 5.0

04-20-2009 15:47:52 DELETE FAILURE 10.82.15.112 \DosDevices\E:
Express 5.0

info 4/20/2009 3:50:12 PM New MAC address (00:50:56:96:6a:27) assigned to adapter VM Network for Express 5.0

info 4/20/2009 3:50:12 PM Assigned new BIOS UUID (501639fb-235d-984c-a31e-012b3d44d12d) to Express 5.0 on 10.82.15.112 in CLT

info 4/20/2009 3:50:12 PM Creating Express 5.0 on host 10.82.15.112 in CLT

info 4/20/2009 3:50:12 PM Virtual Machine Express 5.0 is connected

info 4/20/2009 3:50:11 PM Task: Create Virtual Machine

[Cooldude09]

first of all,that is not a supported option...also check the disk size and see if you have appr. disk space...try creating smaller vm with just 1 GB and see if it gets created successfully...

Anil Gupta

Don’t fear changes, its constant in life, reduce your ecological footprint……………………..Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

Looking for a Virtualization Solution, look here.....

[cfortanb]

I am new to vmware, so, I didn't realize that's not supported. What's the point of allowing a NFS mount if I can't use it? So, my only option of increasing disk space on a ESXi server is SCSI attached disks? There is close to a terabyte of free space on the NFS mount, so, disk space isn't the issue.

Thanks for the reply.

[Jackobli]

I am new to vmware, so, I didn't realize that's not supported.

I'd like to know too!?

It's not supported through VMware itself. So you may not be able to open a ticket and pay for it

How big where the files you did upload via VI-Client?

What kind of filesystem on that usb-disk?

Did you go into the (Windows) options for that disk and check the "performance options" (optimize for speed and use write cache).

You should notice, that USB is quite slow and has some (or a lot, depending on your opinion) overhead. So if possible, you should think about other connection (eSATA, internal disks).

[dinnu]

Hi

I would suggest you to try Allegro NFS in place of MS SFU for no reason. I am not a sales person of this SW but a user. Am using the trial version and you can give it a try too.

If you find this answer or any other correct or helpful, mark it as it is.

Thanks

Dinakar

[mcowger]

Did you disable root squash?

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

[Cooldude09]

As Matt said, check out no root squash option on nfs server, also do this...try to mount that nfs share on other machine and see if you can write big files there

Anil Gupta

Don’t fear changes, its constant in life, reduce your ecological footprint……………………..Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

Looking for a Virtualization Solution, look here.....

[cfortanb]

hhmm..I selected the option to allow root access..and mapped the root user to Administrator on the box. Anything else I would need to check?

[dinnu]

Can you follow the following steps again?

Download the files /etc/passwd and /etc/group from your ESX or ESXi server using WinSCP

Create a folder on your C drive called c:\nfs and place the passwd and group files in there

Download Windows Services for Unix 3.5 from here and install it

Make sure you install the Server for NFS and User Mapping components during the install

During the user mapping configuration portion of the install, choose Local User Name Mapping Server and choose Password and Group files

In the User Name mapping screen type in the path name for the passwd and group files (c:\nfs\passwd and c:\nfs\group)

After it’s installed, click on Start and Run then type MMC

Add the Windows Services for Unix Snap-in to the MMC console

Select User Name Mapping on the left hand pane and then select the MAPS section in the right hand pane

Ensure Simple Maps is checked and then click on Show User Maps

Then click on list Windows Users and list UNIX users

Select Administrator from the Windows user list and select root from the UNIX users list and then click Add

Check the Display simple maps in Mapped users list checkbox

Click on Apply in the top right hand corner of the MMC console

Close the MMC console

Create a folder and right click on it and choose Sharing and Security

Click on the NFS Sharing tab

Click share this folder and give it a share name, in this example we’ll call it NFSBackup

Click on permissions

Check the Allow root access box

Change the Type of Access drop down menu to Read-Write and then click OK and then click OK again

Thanks

Dinakar