ESXi 6.5 EP 12 (Build 11925212) on a single host with Windows Server 2019 guests using both local and iSCSI datastores.
I've tried several combinations of sharing disks between two Windows Server 2019 cluster servers. Every time, I get some sort of SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations warning or error. When configured exactly like it says in documentation (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-651-setup-mscs.pdf) I get the following warning:
Failure issuing call to Persistent Reservation REGISTER RESERVATION KEY 0x10000000a SERVICE ACTION RESERVATION KEY 0x10000000b for Test Disk 1 from node node1.contoso.local: Incorrect function.
Test Disk 1 does not support SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations commands needed by clustered storage pools that use the Storage Spaces subsystem. Some storage devices require specific firmware versions or settings to function properly with failover clusters. Contact your storage administrator or storage vendor for help with configuring the storage to function properly with failover clusters that use Storage Spaces.
By configured exactly like it says in documentation I mean that I have:
- Used Local Storage
- Created a secondary SCSI device using LSI SAS and Virtual Sharing mode
- Added a second hard disk, attached to the second SCSI device, in thick provision eager zeroed mode.
- Set Disk Mode to Independent - Persistent.
- Set Sharing mode to multi-writer
- Added the new disk as an "Existing Hard Disk" on the secondary node
- I've also duplicated these settings using an iSCSI Datastore instead of local storage.
However, I have also tried several different combinations (all result in warnings or hard fail errors related to persistent reservations):
- Using local storage or iSCSI storage
- Using RDM disks or VMDKs
- Using SCSI bus mode of Virtual or Physical
- Using Disk compatibility mode of Virtual or Physical (RDM disks)
- Using LSI SAS and VMWare Paravirtual SCSI adapters
Additionally, I have a second site, with identical hardware but it has multiple hosts. I followed the directions to configure a multi-host shared RDM disk with iSCSI storage and it passes all cluster verification tests without warnings or errors. So, it appears the issue occurs as part of this being setup as a cluster-in-a-box, whereas cluster-across-box seems to work fine with the same hardware.
I understand this is a warning. I also understand that it appears to be warning me that I can't use storage spaces, but it appears that it will still support clustering. However, the warnings worry me, and I'm concerned about compatibility, performance or reliability issues. I also am not sure if I will need or want storage spaces as I move forward with this project.
Any ideas?