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Unintended IBM FAStT LUNs Causes vmkernel Load Time to Increase Significantly

Details

Why does the system take a long time to boot up when I install ESX Server on a system connected to SAN that has a FAStT array on the fabric, even though ESX Server may not be configured to use the FAStT?

Solution

IBM FAStT fabric changes could result in stray LUNs that cause an increase in vmkernel load time. If the ESX Server system is plugged into a SAN, the driver may see unintended IBM FAStT LUNs. This causes the delay in scanning, and the system appears to hang. Up to 32 such LUNs may appear all at once. The ghost LUNs are produced by a FAStT 200 array with firmware version 4.01.02.03. This problem occurs when the FAStT is in Windows mode.

There are two workarounds for this problem:

  1. No ghost LUNs are seen with FAStT 600 with firmware version 6.10.06. Therefore, you can upgrade to current IBM firmware to resolve this problem.
  2. Zone out or mask the LUNs, thereby preventing the host from seeing them. This speeds up the QLogic internal scan by skipping targets that have no LUNs.

Keywords

ESX; Server; 2.5.1; LUN; 1596; esx252

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  • KB Article: 1596
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 2.5.x