topic Re: 8.2.3 sim on ESX 5.1 host will not power on in Simulator Discussions

8.2.3 sim on ESX 5.1 host will not power on

tinplater611 — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 21:16:56 GMT

I installed and registered ONTap 8.2.3 7-mode sim on existing ESX 5.1 host. The sim folder/files are on an existing datastore on our SAN.

When I attempt to power on the sim, ESX reports the following error.

"An error was received from the ESX host while powering on VM STNAS101A.
Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/539b2bd8-cefc30bd-f5cf-002219b1bf62/STNAS101A/DataONTAP-sim.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on.
The system cannot find the file specified
VMware ESX cannot find the virtual disk "/vmfs/volumes/539b2bd8-cefc30bd-f5cf-002219b1bf62/STNAS101A/DataONTAP-sim.vmdk". Verify the path is valid and try again. "

It appears that the VM is trying to access files on the local storage of the ESX host even though the disks show that they are on the SAN datastore.

Why? and how can I fix this?

Thanks,

Re: 8.2.3 sim on ESX 5.1 host will not power on

scottgelb — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 18:02:37 GMT

I had the same issue with the esxi version "vsim_esx-7m.tgz" of the 7-Mode VSIM. The workaround I used was from the workstation version "vsim_netapp-7m.tgz".

Take the workstation version (I have Fusion on my Mac)

1) open and run the vmx file from the extracted "vsim_netapp-7m.tgz"

2) ctrl-c to break the boot to the loader

3) power off the VM

4) once powered off, file --> export to OVF

5) in ESXi, import the OVF

If you need more 7-Mode images, just repeat step 5... then follow the instructions as needed to set the serial number SYS_SERIAL_NUM, bootarg.init.nvram.sysid and option 4..

For the cDOT image, I had no issue with the esx image, only 7-Mode.

Re: 8.2.3 sim on ESX 5.1 host will not power on

SeanHatfield — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 03:07:59 GMT

If its never been powered on sucessfully, an easy workaround is:

1. Delete the IDE disk on IDE1:1

2. Create a new IDE disk on IDE1:1, 250gb thin provisioned

3. power on the VM

VMware deprecated support for disk format used in the tgz bundled sim packages. There are several workaround options, but I think this one is the simplest.

Re: 8.2.3 sim on ESX 5.1 host will not power on

scottgelb — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 05:28:51 GMT

Very nice and a lot more elegant than the brute force OVA method. 🙂