Simulator Discussions

OnTap Simulator 8.1.1 no longer running on ESXi 5.1 free

rkeu
26,190 Views

I'm the only one with this issue? After upgrade of my ESXi host to 5.1 the OnTap Simulator 8.1.1 no longer work. I only get the follwoing error:

 

Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/<id>/vsim-DOT811-7m/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/<id>/vsim-DOT811-7m/DataONTAP-sim.vmdk". Verify the path is valid and try again.

 

Before the Update everything worked without any issue. The vmdk Files are there, it also not works if i manually assign those disk files. I have also never made any snapshots, this cannot be the problem.

A re-download of the Simulator files and add to the Host, get the same issue.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

CCIE17603
26,159 Views

Everyone I have the fix. It's a VMWare issue. By default ESXi 5.1 does not load the the vmkernel multiextent module. See the KB Below.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2036572&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=448358018&stateId=1%200%...

The Fix: all you have to do is ssh into your host and  run this command from the cli: 

# vmkload_mod multiextent

The other stuff in this article didn't apply to me. All I had to do was run this command and my ONTAP Sims booted like usual, no issues. Unfortunately after a ESXi host reboot the multiextent module unloads and you have to perform this again to get your Sims to boot. If anyone can find a way to make this persistent with a switch or write a script that makes it load upon host reboot. I'm sure everyone would be very thankful.

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25 REPLIES 25

shariq_aijaz
5,722 Views

Thanks Steven...I got the solution.

By licenses I mean vsim licenses for Ontap 8.2 simulator. I know they are easily available under simulator download page. But the problem arises once I did the conversion of vsim using VMware Convertor. The serial number of the vsim got changed,somehow, and because from 8.2 the license are node locked. The demo licenses given on the simulator download page are not validating.

The solution to this, i followed, is that I first changed the serial number of the vsim to the one given on the simulator download page and then licensed the vsim.

PS: Changing the serial number is a tedious task but I followed one of the community post and it worked for me after couple of attempts.

Regards

Shariq

MichaelCade
6,968 Views

Hi there, i am also having this issue i have downloaded the 8.1.2 sim for ESXi from my NOW site,

-i have then used the ESXi shell to extract to relevant datastore on host,

-added vm to inventory

-using the # vmkload_mod multiextent in the shell i have ran this

-power on virtual machine and i then get this error...

is there a specific order i need to add the virtual machine etc? this happens on both 7mode sims and clustered ontap sims....

for info i am running vsphere esxi 5.1

MichaelCade
6,968 Views

Just removed sim from inventory and re added to no avail, same error around this DataONTAP-sim.vmdk file not being found when it is clearly in the datastore

MichaelCade
5,722 Views

Ok i resolved this issue,

basically the reason is because the Sim.vmdk file is a sparse file, so this needs to be changed to either a thin or thick provisioned disk. this is done through the command line using the following commands *note you have to navigate to the correct datastore to issue these commands.

esxcli system module load -m multiextent - to be ran once on each esx node

vmkfstools -i DataONTAP-sim.vmdk DataONTAP-sim-new.vmdk -d zeroedthick

vmkfstools -U DataONTAP-sim.vmdk

vmkfstools -E DataONTAP-sim-new.vmdk DataONTAP-sim.vmdk

this needs to be ran on each netapp sim datastore both 7mode and clustered ontap this will allow the virtual machine to then boot. this is applicable to version 5.1 and ontap 8.1.2

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2036572

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1022242

MichaelCade
5,722 Views

I have explained in detail here. http://www.vzilla.co.uk/vzilla-blog.html

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