Is there a limit or a procedure for formatting a 12TB DAS?

[steve201110141]

We get an error when adding storage.

Call "HostDatastoreSystem.QueryVmfsDatastoreCreateOptions" for object "datastoreSystem-278" on vCenter Server "vCenter.domain.local" failed.

We have new Dell R710 with a new DAS MD1000. We installed ESX VMWare 4.1 on the 134GB R710. Using vCenter 4.1, we tried to format LUN 0 on the 11.82TB MD1000, but get the above error. We also tried formatting the additional storage from the 4.1 vClient directly connected to the R710, we get the same error.

We can’t find “datastoreSystem-278” error code listed on vmware.com.

We know VMware 4.1 file size maximum is 2TB and the Volume size maximum is 64TB, should we be able to format the additional storage/LUN to 12TB?

Using GPT, we know Windows server 2008R2 can format > 12TB.

Is there a limit or a procedure for formatting our 12TB MD1000 DAS?

This is the text from the Summary error report:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

   at VpxClient.HostConfig.DatastoresAndVolumes.Util.GetSizeInBytes(VmfsDatastoreOption option)

   at VpxClient.HostConfig.DatastoresAndVolumes.DiskLunFormattingPg.GetSizeInGB(VmfsDatastoreOption option)

   at VpxClient.HostConfig.DatastoresAndVolumes.DiskLunFormattingPg.GetOptionSizeInGB(VmfsDatastoreOption option)

   at VpxClient.HostConfig.DatastoresAndVolumes.DiskLunFormattingPg.OnActivate()

   at VpxClientCommon.WizardFramework.TocWizard.DoNewPage()

   at VpxClientCommon.WizardFramework.TocWizard.OnNextValidationCompleted(TocWzPage page, PageValidationResult pvr)

   at VpxClientCommon.WizardFramework.TocWizard.<>c__DisplayClass1.<ValidatePage>b__0(TocWzPage p, PageValidationResult pvr)

   at VpxClientCommon.WizardFramework.TocWzPage.ValidateDataAsync(PageValidationCompletedHandler h)

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcoem to the forums.

The size limit for a single LUN presented to a host is 2TB - 512 bytes, so you will need to carve up the 12TB into 7 or more LUNs and present them to the ESX host that way.  From there you can have as many VMFS volumes or you can use extents to have a larger VMFS volume, but the extent approach is generally not recommended.

Good Luck!

[TomHowarth · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the forums,

A quick answer to your question is yes there is a limit and that is 2TB-512k

a longer answer is due to the fact that ESX(i) utilizes SCSI 2 for its SCSI protocol the maximum file size that can be address is 2TB if you need more you have two options,

firstly as the documentation states extents, but this is not really recommended as it is effectly  SPANNED set of disks, and the same rules apply if you loose a disk/datastore

The second option is to utilize NFS as your datastores,  on these LUN size can be greater than 2TB and also the 2TB limit for VMDK's is also gone,

that said you are using DAS and as such you only have the ability to use EXTENTS

[steve201110141]

"firstly as the documentation states extents, but this is not really recommended as it is effectly  SPANNED set of disks, and the same rules apply if you loose a disk/datastore"

Thanks Tom for the quick answer. Could I trouble you for the link to the documentation/information on using extents?

[DSTAVERT]

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsp40u1_e/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm#href=welcome/welcome.html Search for extents.

I will add another warning. Don't use them.