topic Re: Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix in Simulator Discussions

Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix

MichaelCade — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:04:12 GMT

hi all i thought i would share i what i have found out. here is a blog post of what i found etc. and the fix to allow the new 8.1.2 work on ESXi 5.1

http://www.vzilla.co.uk/vzilla-blog.html

Re: Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix

shatfield — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:41:57 GMT

The problem is that the 2gb sparse disk format is no longer supported on ESXi 5.1 and beyond.

Theres the easy fix, and the hard fix.

Easy fix: before first boot, delete and recreate the SIM disk VMDK on IDE 1:1. Use this method if you are building a new sim from scratch.

Hard fix: re-enable 2gb sparse disk support, and convert the disk to a supported type with vmkfstools. Use this method if you have an existing sim you are trying to get working after upgrading your esxi install.

For example:

enable ssh and esxishell
use ssh or DCUI to access esxi shell
cd /vmfs/{datastore name}/{vsim folder}
vmkload_mod multiextent
vmkfstools -E DataONTAP-sim.vmdk DataONTAP-sim-2gbsparse.vmdk
vmkfstools -i DataONTAP-sim-2gbsparse.vmdk -d thin DataONTAP-sim.vmdk
vmkfstools -U DataONTAP-sim-2gbsparse.vmdk
vmkload_mod -u multiextent

Re: Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix

rbrinson — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:24:22 GMT

Can you give details of the original issue you experienced? I went to you BLOG site but did not see any specifics. Thanks.

Re: Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix

shatfield — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:42:58 GMT

Essentially, the sims are packaged using a virtual disk format thats no longer support on esxi out of the box.

The blog post vanished a while ago, but its been discussed here before, for example:

https://communities.netapp.com/message/106708#106708