SnapDrive:Disk Enumeration complete: with NO Disks

[furqan_ghani]

Hi Guys,

Need your quicket suggetions.

I am facing a strange situation here, I am trying to configure SnapDrive snapshot function in VM. The Guest OS is windows 2003 SP2 and running MSSQL 2003 sp3.

I have installed SnapDrive 6.3 and SnapManager 5.1.

The VM doesn't have any RDM mapped and installed with Latest VMtools, AND All VMDK are stores on VMFS LUN mapped from NetApp filer.

Some facts are as follows

The volume guarntee type is None.

And LUN had snapreserved disabled

One LUN has been mapped with one VMFS.

The VM has two partitions C: AND D and each one have on vmdk DISK mapped.

After installation I have validated the config through command line, following are the results.

C:\Program Files\IBM\SnapDrive>sdcli vsconfig list
         VirtualCenter or ESX Ip address: 192.168.2.105
         User name                      : administrator

C:\Program Files\IBM\SnapDrive>sdcli transport_protocol list
Default Protocol:             HTTPS
User Name:                    root
Port:                         443

Storage System:               192.168.2.171
Other IP Address(s)/Name:     dxb-filer1
Protocol:                     HTTPS
User Name:                    root
Port:                         443

Storage System:               192.168.2.172
Other IP Address(s)/Name:     dxb-filer2
Protocol:                     HTTPS
User Name:                    root
Port:                         443
The operation completed successfully.

sdcli sysconfig

The sysconfig command performs operations related to SnapDrive configuration. Th
e following operations are available:
        list

For information about an individual operation type "sdcli sysconfig help <operat
ion>"

C:\Program Files\IBM\SnapDrive>sdcli sysconfig list
        SnapDrive 6.2.0.4519, Build: 6.2
        ESX Server\Virtual Center: 192.168.2.105
        Virtual machine datastore type: VMFS
        Machine name: NSMSSQL
        MPIO is not installed
        Available drive letters: B F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
        0 driver(s):
The operation completed successfully.

And When I am trying to see the Disks in SnapDrive Console following is the screen appears as a result. Isn't it starnge?  I am expecting VMDK's to be list here.?

NOTE: Same configuration have been done on windows 2008 server and there I can see all VMDK's ready for snapshot operation.

Quicket advise shall be highly appreciating.

Regards,

Xzearik

[malcolmpenn]

Hi Furqan,

Were you able to resolve this problem ? If so could you share with me how this was resolved.

I have found the exact same problem when installing SnapDrive 6.3.1R1 within a Windows 2003 guest OS

Many thanks

Malcom

[bsti]

Guys, you won't see VMDKs show up in SnapDrive unless they are connected as RDMs.  Normally, you would map your LUN to an iGroup containing the Initiator addresses of your ESX cluster hosts, then do a rescan all and they should show up in VirtualCenter.  Then you can connect them as data stores and give them to VMs as disks. 

If you are trying to connect to LUNs via SnapDrive, that's totally different.  You actually don't connect to any kind of .vmfs partition directly via SnapDrive.  YOu would connect to a lun with a normal, Windows NFTS partition on it.  This connects that LUN DIRECTLY to the VM as an RDM. 

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you are trying to do, but it really sounds like you are expecting to see .vmfs partitioned LUNs in SnapDrive.

[malcolmpenn]

You need to see the VMDK shown up in SnapDrive before you can intall SnapManager for SQL to backup the Virtual machines with their presentation from VMFS datastores, if you can't.

see the VMDKs from SnapDrive then SnapManager returns the expected error.

[venkat3]

hi malcolmpen

Please see Snapdrive Admin Guide page 37,38 "Support for VMDKs in NFS and VMFS datastores"

Let me know if your setup meets all preconditions as mentioned in the guide.

The following conditions must exist before you can use SnapDrive with VMDKs in an NFS or VMFS datastore:

• SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure is installed and the appropriate IP address and port number is configured in SnapDrive for Windows.

SnapDrive provides a configuration panel in the installation Wizard.

• Data ONTAP 7.3.4 or later is installed on your storage system for SnapDrive to use the space reclamation feature in VMDK files.

• SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure server is installed in the same location as vCenter.

• The SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure server is available and reachable from the virtual machine on which SnapDrive is installed.

• The storage system IP address is configured in the SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure server to enable identification of VMDKs created across NFS and VMFS datastores.

Snapdrive Admin Guide --> https://now.netapp.com/knowledge/docs/snapdrive/relsnap631r1/pdfs/admin.pdf

thanks

srinivas

[malcolmpenn]

HI Srinivas,

My understanding is that the VSC plugin has replaced installing the individual SMVI component and each additional component within VSC is based upon licenses installed on the filer, can you confirm this is correct.

Currently all the components of VSC are working correct, Backup / Recovery (I have testing backing up and restoring our Virtual Machines), Provisioning / Cloning (Provisioned new VMFS datastores from the VSC) and the Monitoring functionaity, so I am happy to proceed with installing SnapDrive on the VM.

We have installed the VSC plugin on the same physical server as vCenter, we are able to ping the vCenter server from our Virtual Machine, our filers are running 8.0.1P2

But when we use the functionality within SnapDrive to enable the VM to talk to vCenter or ESX logon the following error message is shown:

Error: Please enter valid credentials.

Error : Invalid VirtualCenter or ESX Server IP address / Name, VirtualMachine <VM Hostname> is not part of x.x.x.x (IP Address) VirtualCenter or ESX Server.

Please enter correct VirtualCenter or ESX Server IP Address or Host Name

The operation completed successfully.

We have currently created our snapdrive user account as domain admin to ensure permissions are not a problem and the snapdrive account has been added to vCenter.

Can you confirm if there are any other permission dependancies.

Many thanks

Malcolm

[malcolmpenn]

Hi Xzearik

I believe we have found the answer, firstly all components of the VSC need to be working.

Then you need to use sdcli smvi_config rather than sdcli vscconfig - I have been told by NetApp that smvi_config is used for VMDKs to be presented to SnapDrive and vscconfig is used for RDM's.

Once I have a full understanding of where we went wrong I will post a step by step process.

Cheers

Malcolm

[venkat3]

I belive the issue is resolve with proper smvi configuration and you are now able to view the VMDK inside Snapdrive

-Srinivas

[jaloye]

Any chance you could post that "step by step process"?

We have the same problem here.