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Diagnostic Tools for VMFS File System?

Hello all,

I am wondering if it is possible to diagnose or run some sort of check disk on hard drives running VMware's VMFS file system? Or is this something that would be automatically reported in events and alerts in vcenter server console for each host? Or does VMFS automatically handle bad sectors and should I rely on out of band server diagnostics tools to check hard drive SMART status etc?

Thanks

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Paul Solovyovsky

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SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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rindi

The virtual file-system is best tested by the guest OS using that file-system, just like it would be without any virtualization in place.

CnicNV

ASKER

Thanks, I sorted this out. Coincidentally I just happened to check the vkernal logs and they were littered with errors similar to the ones in that troubleshooting link you posted.

Also, I used the Dell server diagnostics tool (F11) and the suspected single hard drive did in fact fail a few tests. Ahh well, I have backups of these VMS, so I will just move them to another hard drive.

Need a budget for a SAN lol...ugghh

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

You don't need a SAN, just make sure you use RAID 6!

What sort of Enterprise virtualisation service do you offer, with VMs on a single disk!

CnicNV

ASKER

LOL, tell me about it, preaching to the choir. Not something I have any control over. I just need to make it work with what I am given.

However this is only for development, not production and whatever it is, I would not call it enterprise :-P

Thanks again:-)