VMFS Version for ESXi Datastore | Nutanix Community
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I’m asking about the version of VMFS datastore for ESXi hypervisor on Nutanix cluster. I’m trying to create new VM with a disk larger than 2 TB with no luck of success, after some google searches seems this issue could be due to VMFS3.

On Nutanix with ESXi hypervisor all the datastores are NFSv3. With only one exception - there is one datastore on each host which is VMFS5, but it is a local device used for the ESXi installation (SATADOM/M2) and it is not supported to create VMs on the local datastore. So, basically, all the datastores that can be used for VMs are NFSv3 protocol. The maximum disk size on ESXi for NFS datastores is 62Tb.

What kind of error do you receive when you try to create a disk bigger than 2Tb? What is the total capacity of the datastore that you created?

I’m getting this as well, and I don’t know why. Brand new Nutanix setup with vSphere 7u1.

NFS v3 Datastore of course, created from Prism. No limit in size and 30TB free.

Still, when I edit the settings for the VM and enter “New harddisk”, it refuses to give me 2 TB or more. If I expand the details it says “Maximum supported size: 2 TB”.
I’ve had this issue before with extending drives to over 2 TB, and had to do it from PowerCLI.

But why wouldn’t it work from vCenter 7 straight away? This time I’m not extending, I’m creating a new one.

 

Thanks!

 

If you log in to the Prism and check the Home page - Storage Summary, how much free logical space does it show?

Also, if you click in vcenter on the datastore - configure - general. What does it say there?

Loads of free space.

Also, here it says max 2 TB. I think 62TB should be possible, or something?

 

That is the VMware bug in the ESXi 7 versions. The vCenter is showing 2Tb maximum virtual disk size in some situations whereas it should be in fact 62Tb. All the details about when that situation happens is unknown to us and probably VMware can provide more information about it.

That is purely a VMware bug and has absolutely nothing to do with Nutanix. There is a workaround - you can log in to the host’s ESXi UI (not the vCenter, but the ESXi host client) by typing the host’s IP address in the browser and create the larger than 2Tb disk from there and it will work.

 

Thanks @Sergei Ivanov, I could create >2Tb disk from ESXi host directly. and yes, it seems a bug in VMware 7 versions.

Appreciate your response, 

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