Cannot power on a virtual machine located in an NFS datastore
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Cannot power on a virtual machine located in an NFS datastore

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Article ID: 313027

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
  • You are unable to power on a virtual machine located in an NFS datastore.
  • Powering on a virtual machine that is located in a NFS datastore fails.
  • You see an error similar to:

    Failed to lock the file. Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/UUID/VM_Name/VM_Name.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
  • The /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/virtual_machine_folder/vmware.log file, contains entries similar to:

    vmx| DISKLIB-VMFS : "/vmfs/volumes/UUID/VM_Name/VM_Name-flat.vmdk" : failed to open (Failed to lock the file): AIOMgr_Open failed. Type 3
    vmx| DISK: Cannot open disk "/vmfs/volumes/UUID/VM_Name/VM_Name.vmdk": Failed to lock the file (16392).
    vmx| Msg_Post: Error
    vmx| [msg.disk.noBackEnd] Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/UUID/VM_Name/VM_Name.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
     
  • The /var/log/vmkernel file contains entries similar to:

    NFSLock: 2819: failed to get lock on file VM_Name.vmdk 0x000000000000 on ip> (ip): Busy
    WARNING: NFSLock: 2128: disk is being locked by other consumer
    NFSLock: 2819: failed to get lock on file <VM_Name>-flat.vmdk 0x000000000000 on ip (ip): Busy


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Cause

This issue occurs when the .lck-xxx file located in the virtual machine folder holds a lock on the vmdk file. When an ESXi/ESX host accesses a virtual machine disk file on a NFS based datastore a .lck-xxx lock file is generated in the same directory as the disk file. This file prevents other ESXi/ESX hosts from accessing the virtual disk file.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, delete the .lck-xxxx file located in the virtual machine folder.
 

Caution: Ensure the vmdk files are not in use by another virtual machine before performing these steps. Removing a valid .lck can cause instability.

To delete the .lck-xxxx file:

  1. Ensure the virtual machine is powered off.
  2. Connect to the ESXi/ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH). For more information, see Connecting to an ESX host using a SSH client (1019852).
  3. Go to the virtual machine folder, run the command:

    cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore_name/virtual_machine_folder
     
  4. List all files including the hidden files, run the command:

    ls -la
     
  5. Remove the lock file, run the command:

    rm .lck-xxxx

    Where xxxx is a sequence of numbers. For example, lck-001455721.

    Note: Ensure the virtual machine is not running.
     
  6. Power on the virtual machine.
Note: When the virtual machine is powered on, you see a new .lck-xxxx file generated in the virtual machine folder. This is expected behavior.
 

If this issue persists or no lock files are present to apply this resolution to, file a Support Request with VMware Support and note this KB article ID (2037507) in the problem description. For more information, see Filing a Support Request in Customer Connect (2006985).


Additional Information


Connecting to an ESX host using an SSH client
NFS データストアにある仮想マシンをパワー オンできない
无法打开位于 NFS 数据存储中的虚拟机的电源

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