Running ontap 8.1.2 Sim on ESXi 5.1 - fix

[MichaelCade]

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

[shatfield]

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:

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

[rbrinson]

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

[shatfield]

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