Partition And Format ESXi Disks using CLI
Today I needed to remove two disks from an ESXi 5.5 host and replace them with another set of used disks. This describes the process I used to condition these disks with vmfs5 partitions using SSH access and command line commands.
Enable SSH
<F2> Customize System/View Logs
Troubleshooting Options
Enable SSH
Connect to host via SSH. Optionally disable warnings about SSH being enabled on the host.
vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update UserVars.SuppressShellWarning long 1
See if any disks are used as scratch partition.
vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/view ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation
Result:
~ # vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/view ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation
(vim.option.OptionValue) [
(vim.option.OptionValue) {
dynamicType = <unset>,
key = "ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation",
value = "/vmfs/volumes/57017270-43f7d020-b2d0-b8ac6f929c2c/.locker",
}
]
If result indicates the scratch partition is using an existing disk, then create a temporary scratch location on ramdisk and point config to it.
mkdir /tmp/.scratch
vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation string /tmp/.scratch
Reboot host for new scratch location to take effect then connext to host via SSH. List all available disks.
ls -l /vmfs/devices/disks/
Result:
~ # ls -l /vmfs/devices/disks/
total 3247613391
-rw------- 1 root root 4010803200 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0
-rw------- 1 root root 4161536 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1
-rw------- 1 root root 262127616 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:5
-rw------- 1 root root 262127616 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:6
-rw------- 1 root root 115326976 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:7
-rw------- 1 root root 299876352 Apr 3 20:05 mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:8
-rw------- 1 root root 160000000000 Apr 3 20:05 t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673
-rw------- 1 root root 159998934528 Apr 3 20:05 t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673:1
-rw------- 1 root root 1500301910016 Apr 3 20:05 t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ
-rw------- 1 root root 1500300844544 Apr 3 20:05 t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ:1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:1 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:5 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:6 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:7 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:7
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0000000000766d68626133323a303a30:8 -> mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:8
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 72 Apr 3 20:05 vml.01000000002020202020202020202020203956533344375251535433313530 -> t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 74 Apr 3 20:05 vml.01000000002020202020202020202020203956533344375251535433313530:1 -> t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ:1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 72 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0100000000202020202020533230394a39305a38303336373353414d53554e -> t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 74 Apr 3 20:05 vml.0100000000202020202020533230394a39305a38303336373353414d53554e:1 -> t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673:1
In this case our physical disks are:
t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673
t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ
Erase or disks by creating a new disk label.
partedUtil mklabel /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673 gpt
partedUtil mklabel /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ gpt
Determine the usable beginning and end sectors of our two disks.
partedUtil getUsableSectors /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673
partedUtil getUsableSectors /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ
Result:
~ # partedUtil getUsableSectors /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673
34 312499966
~ # partedUtil getUsableSectors /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ
34 2930277134
Create new partitions on each disk using all available space. Note the syntax for partedUtil in this case Set Partitions : setptbl <diskName> <label> ["partNum startSector endSector type/guid attr"]*. It is recommended to use a startSector value of 128 for vmfs3 and 2048 for vmfs5.
partedUtil setptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673" gpt "1 2048 312499966 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 0"
partedUtil setptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ" gpt "1 2048 2930277134 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 0"
Format each partition using vmfs5 file system.
vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b 1m -S Datastore1 /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____SAMSUNG_HE161HJ_______________________________S209J90Z803673:1
vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b 1m -S Datastore2 /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____ST31500341AS________________________________________9VS3D7RQ:1
Create a scratch partition on disk and set it.
mkdir /vmfs/volumes/Datastore1/.scratch
vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation string /vmfs/volumes/Datastore1/.scratch
Reboot the ESXi host for scratch partition setting to take effect.