{"id":51,"date":"2014-09-23T06:07:50","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/45.77.187.106\/?p=51"},"modified":"2015-03-07T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T06:07:47","slug":"scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/","title":{"rendered":"SCSI UNMAP – VMware ESXi and Nimble Storage Array"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting with VMware ESXi 5.0, VMware introduced the SCSI UNMAP primitive\u00a0(VAAI Thin Provisioning Block Reclaim<\/em>)\u00a0to their VAAI feature collection for thin provisioned LUNs. VMware even automated the SCSI UNMAP process, however, starting with ESXi 5.0U1, SCSI UNMAP became a manual process. Also, SCSI UNMAP needs to be supported by your underlying SAN array. Nimble Storage\u00a0started to support SCSI UNMAPs with Nimble OS version 1.4.3.0 and later.<\/p>\n


\nWhat is the problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When deleting a file from your VMFS5 datastore (thin provisioned), the usage reported on your datastore and the underlying\u00a0Nimble Storage volume\u00a0will not match. The Nimble Storage volume is not aware of any space reclaimed within the VMFS5 datastore. This could be caused by a single file like an ISO but also be due to the deletion of a whole virtual machine.<\/p>\n

What version of VMFS is supported?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can run SCSI UNMAPs against VMFS5 and upgraded VMFS3-to-VMFS5 datastores.<\/p>\n

What needs to be done on the Nimble Storage array?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SCSI UNMAP is supported by Nimble Storage arrays starting from version 1.4.3.0 and later.
\nThere is nothing to be done on the array.<\/p>\n

How do I run SCSI UNMAP on VMware ESXi 5.x?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Establish a SSH session to your ESXi host which has the datastore mounted.<\/li>\n
  2. Run\u00a0esxcli storage core path list | grep -e ‘Device Display Name’ -e ‘Target Transport Details’\u00a0<\/em> to get a list of volumes including the EUI identifier.\u00a0\"list<\/li>\n
  3. Run VAAI status get to verify if SCSI UNMAP (Delete Status) is supported for the volume.
    \nesxcli storage core device vaai status get -d eui.e5f46fe18c8acb036c9ce900c48a7f60<\/em>
    \neui.e5f46fe18c8acb036c9ce900c48a7f60<\/em>
    \n VAAI Plugin Name:<\/em>
    \n ATS Status: supported<\/em>
    \n Clone Status: unsupported<\/em>
    \n Zero Status: supported<\/em>
    \n Delete Status: supported<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n
  4. Change to the datastore directory.
    \ncd \/vmfs\/volumes\/<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Run\u00a0vmkfstools to trigger SCSI UNMAPs.
    \nvmkstools -y
    \nFor ESXi 5.5:\u00a0<\/strong>Use\u00a0<\/em>esxcli storage vmfs unmap -l <\/em>
    \nNote:\u00a0<\/strong>the value for the percentage has to be between 0 and 100. Generally, I recommend using 60 to start with.<\/li>\n
  6. Wait until the ESXi host\u00a0returns “Done”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Further details for ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 can be found here<\/a>\u00a0 and for ESXi 5.5, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Starting with VMware ESXi 5.0, VMware introduced the SCSI UNMAP primitive\u00a0(VAAI Thin Provisioning Block Reclaim)\u00a0to their VAAI feature collection for thin provisioned LUNs. VMware even automated the SCSI UNMAP process,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Reclaim space on your thinly provisioned #VMFS5 #datastore.\r\nhttp:\/\/wp.me\/p4LPqN-P #VAAI #SCSI #UNMAP","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[151,154],"tags":[31,24,32,28,29,30],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nSCSI UNMAP - VMware ESXi and Nimble Storage Array<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Starting with VMware ESXi 5.0, VMware introduced the SCSI UNMAP primitive to their VAAI feature collection for thin provisioned LUNs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SCSI UNMAP - VMware ESXi and Nimble Storage Array\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Starting with VMware ESXi 5.0, VMware introduced the SCSI UNMAP primitive to their VAAI feature collection for thin provisioned LUNs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mind The Virtualization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-23T13:07:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-08T06:07:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/45.77.187.106\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-12-at-5.14.38-PM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MindTheVirt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MindTheVirt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb6071318857fba6c1bcae35229256a4\"},\"headline\":\"SCSI UNMAP – VMware ESXi and Nimble Storage Array\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-23T13:07:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-08T06:07:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\"},\"wordCount\":368,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb6071318857fba6c1bcae35229256a4\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/45.77.187.106\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-12-at-5.14.38-PM.png\",\"keywords\":[\"esxcli\",\"Nimble Storage\",\"reclaim space\",\"SCSI UNMAP\",\"Thin provisioning\",\"VMware ESXi 5\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Storage & Backup\",\"VMware\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mindthevirt.com\/scsi-unmap-vmware-esxi\/\",\"name\":\"SCSI UNMAP - 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